5. Major Parkinson - Blackbox

Pretty cool cover. Actually I really really like it.

Major Parkinson are a Norwegian seven-piece rock band with a thoroughly unique sound. Outrageously underrated, they're relatively unknown even here in Norway. I first took note of the name back in 2008, when the song "197" became a minor minor hit. It has Kaizers Orchestra-esque Eastern European-sounding scales, beats and instruments, adds in some very proggy riffs and odd time signatures, and overall has an extremely dark flavor, largely thanks to singer and main songwriter Jon Ivar Kollbotn's deep, gravelly vocals. It's a combination that sounds unlikely to succeed, but it's a solid winner of a song. However, they never got big, and I never played their other music much, but they're now ten years on from their self-titled debut album, and I'm starting to realize that this band is probably one of the better things to come out of this bumpy country the last decade and they're still maturing. Blackbox is their fourth and newest album, and it's an absolute stunner.

It's lamentable that Major Parkinson's wonderful music is too weird to earn them a living, but also awesome that they're ambitious and creative enough to have pushed on and now actually released four albums. They managed it in part through fantastic fundraising videos, like the one above for Blackbox, the sequel to the hilarious "The fundraiser song" that they made for their third album, Twilight Cinema. Those videos happen to serve pretty well as an introduction to the band, both in terms of style, instrumentation, and it actually helps to know the face of the person singing those absurd vocals. The flamboyance, darkness and humour goes hand in hand, and the result is entirely lovable.

On to Blackbox. It's epic, dark, grandiose, intriguing, magical and intense. The two highlights are undoubtedly the two 10-minute tracks "Isabel: A report to an academy" and "Baseball", but the opening and closing duos are also fantastic. The production is incredible the whole way through, and helps the record sounds cohesive and flow as one piece, despite big differences between the songs. There's lots of very gypsy violin, very majestic brass, very metal drums, some flute, harp and other very pretty chamber music moments, some saloon piano, some castanets I think, some ompa organ, and countless other musical elements that all flow together in a wondrous cacophony. There's hardly a straight 4/4 beat anywhere on the album, but there's also no shortage of crowdpleasing moments like awesome modulations and catchy hooks. For examples of almost all of the above, look no further than the album centerpiece "Baseball". And it's all so, so fun.

Opener "Lover, lower me down!" is a slow burner with a long instrumental intro, intensifying as Kollbotn's incredible vocals come in, and intensifying further as a female chorus echoes the synth line from the introduction halfway through. As the song climaxes with an ever more distorted guitar line, crazier drumming and the chorus' dramatic return, it transitions abruptly into track 2, the addictively rhythmic "Night hitcher" (I've had that 10-beat rhythm stuck in my head for weekends at a time). The two songs flow so well and also share so many thematic elements that they might as well have been one 10-minute track.

We then get the first of two relatively toned-down acoustic interludes. "Before the helmets" introduces the whispered mantra "You must believe in magic", and although I have absolutely no idea what Blackbox is really about, the lyrical fragments that do stick out convey utterly magical imagery. There are salamanders, fluorescent skies, black confetti, gleaming pantaloons, tesla coils, and lots of other words that send the imagination running wild. The keywords recur just often enough to create the illusion of a cohesive story... I'm not sure there is one, but it doesn't really matter. It works really well, like on both of Kaizers' triologies.

What's up with the baseball stuff?!

Four of the tracks feature Linn Frøkedal on guest vocals. It's a great addition, providing much-needed contrast to Kollbotn's dark singing; Major Parkinson should just get a full-time female vocalist. But I do find myself wishing, basically every time, that it's Susanne Sundfør singing. I'm sorry, the moody soundscapes are just perfect for her, and simply imagining her voice over "Isabel" or "Blackbox" gives me goosebumps. Frøkedal's more restrained performance does feel slightly underwhelming in the context of the epic music.

More light criticism: The one song I'm not too big a fan of is "Madeleine crumbles". Its very poppy riff sticks out a little too much on the record, and although it only shows up at the very beginning and the end of the song, it's just a little too much. The song in between is good, but slightly less amazing than the other tracks on the album.

But all in all this album is jaw-dropping, in the best possible way. An incredibly creative and thrilling work of art. Give these guys a listen, you deserve it as much as they do.

Best tracks: "Baseball", "Night hitcher", "Isabel: A report to an academy"