Norweigan indie band Moron Police return with their long-awaited third album, A Boat on the Sea, the follow-up to the band’s widely acclaimed sophomore album.
So, was the five-year wait worth it?
Hell yeah.
In fact, don’t be surprised if after you listen to this album, you think “wow, this is amazing.” Moron Police are good at turning casual listeners into loyal fans.
A Boat on the Sea kicks off with the harmonic and melodic-heavy, piano-driven track, “Hocus Pocus.” Right away, the listener is pulled in.
On the following track, “The Phantom Below,” Moron Police bursts into a heavy prog-rock intro which then evolves into a spirited pop/rock vibe.
The song’s prog-rock riffs come on strong again later in the track, providing plenty of glitter and pizazz, together with a full-throttle chorus, crashing cymbals and dazzling keyboard work.
If you like powerful music that is a bit quirky and brimming with sweeping melodic hooks, this may be one of the 2019 albums you need to hear. One cannot listen to this album without being transformed.
To that end, it’s easy to see how this talented band of professional musicians has attracted fans from different corners of the planet. They are superb instrumentalists, composers, and performers.
They have received mad support just on Bandcamp alone in recent years, and it hasn’t been any different for A Boat on the Sea. Rarely do we see DIY bands attracting the level of support on Bandcamp Moron Police has acquired.
One fan, Jack Price, wrote on their Bandcamp page: “Quite possibly the jolliest album released this year. Bouncy, energetic prog rock provided by some mad folks from Norway. Strikes that fine balance between being quirky enough to be unique but traditional enough for each song to get stuck in your head with their infectious melodies. If you can listen to this album without having the biggest dumb grin on your face at least once then your heart is made of stone. Favorite track: Captain Awkward.
Moron Police’s previous albums, including their 2012 impressive 12-track debut, The Propaganda Machine, have not only attracted fans worldwide but have also garnered praise from the international press and radio DJs. They followed that up with their sophomore effort, Defenders of the Small Yard, another 12-track album of amazing music, and which also received big support among their fans.
This time around, five years later, Moron Police “eschewed their metal origins and focused on a progressive rock/pop sound, while still retaining their eclectic style of genre-bending music,” it states on their Bandcamp page, adding: “The album is filled to the brim with catchy melodies and leitmotifs that will have you humming along until your ears start to bleed…in a good way.” That’s true.
Speaking of the airwaves, “Invisible King” is very much a radio-friendly track in every sense of the word. Interestingly, it has an almost veiled tinge of old country rock from the 1970s that keeps it from sounding too radio-friendly.
“Beware the Blue Skies” is an uplifting, bright track with a swirl of keys and buzzing guitars, and an undeniable rhythm that can turn any gloomy day into a few minutes of sunshine. Again, the performance and talents of these musicians are impressive; a band that was meant to be.
Next, the listener is treated to the jazzy, funky track, “The Dog Song,” that very much possesses an alt. folk/country rock vibe. One would not be totally crazy to assume these guys could be from the States, not necessarily Norway.
The infusions of various genres and other musical influences – informed by their musical educations and backgrounds – is so remarkable that one actually comes away with a renewed sense that there is so much music “out there” that isn’t getting its full appreciation. (We’re doing our best to bring our readers/listeners the best music they don’t get to hear anywhere else.)
One of the markers of a good band is one that can switch it up, mix genres in exciting new ways, and stake their ground in the indie world with a unique signature sound. Moron Police have accomplished this again and again now with three albums of rich, energetic, even spell-bounding prog-pop/rock of its own style.
One of our favorite – and many of their fans’ favorites too – tracks from the new album is the thrilling, energy-driven and fascinating – almost epic in a sonic cinematic way (if that makes sense) – “Captain Awkward.” (Frank Zappa fans take note).
Here’s what another fan wrote about the band and their new album: “No other band in the world takes me to my happy place in quite the same way as Moron Police. Every single note sounds like they’re having the time of their lives, and they’re inviting you to do the same. Listen to everything they’ve ever done. Immediately. Favorite track: The Dog Song.”
“The Undersea” comes blazing out of the gates in a bright, complex melody coupled with the fitting vocals of Sondre Skollevoll, who also commands guitars and keys. The other highly talented (and we don’t use that word lightly) band members are Lars Bjørknes (keys, piano, organ); Thore Omland Pettersen (drums), and Christian Fredrik Steen (bass).
The album closes with the seven-minute-long, “Isn’t It Easy.” The track’s intro, like many of the band’s songs, is a full-throttle prog-rock onslaught, featuring more complex and rampant guitar, bass, key, and percussion playing, and switching.
Following the intro, the track changes radically, becoming – at least for a short time – a piano and vocal-driven pop song that once again blossoms into a terrific piece of music all around. As the others have said – this is one of the best DIY albums of 2019.
Each time we spin it, a new world opens up. It’s kind of like a really cute baby – you can’t resist saying or thinking, “what a gorgeous baby” and no one disagrees or gets tired of looking at the baby.
The band says that they hope that A Boat on the Sea, as a piece of art, “offers something different to those who would listen.”
The album aims to be, the band says, “catchy and adventurous, but with an underlying current of Scandinavian melancholy—as perfectly captured by returning cover artist DULK.”
It has huge choruses, rampant guitar play, inventive synths, a plethora of time-signature changes—all the workings of an album of excess, yet it comes together to form a cohesive whole.
Perhaps its most defining feature is that it sounds like Moron Police and no-one else, and no manner of superlative spluttering could really hope to capture its spirit. The best way to describe it would be to hear it.
The album was produced by Sondre Skollevoll and Lars Bjørknes and mixed by Mike Watts at VuDu Studios in Port Jefferson, New York, and mastered by Dag Erik Nygaard.
Moron Police was formed back in 2008. Since then, the members’ careers in music have seen “many strange twists along the way.”
They’ve played live with a full-piece orchestra; one of their songs was performed on tour by the award-winning Los Alamitos Show Choir; they have performed across Scandinavia and at various festivals
like Hove, Norway Rock Festival, and even held a show on a small island with a historic lighthouse surrounded by the maw of the seas.