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Moha!, "Raus Aus Stavanger"
As a duo Moha! seem to be reaching for a place of their own and failing. Settled between the large comforting bosoms of other discordant and unpredictable bands, Anders Hana and Morten J. Olsen are either jerking their instruments around as though handling a dead chicken by the neck or playing loud, formed jams and sounding indistinguishable from their brethren.Rune Grammofon
Saying they're indistinguishable is unfair; I think I'd rather say that I'd rather not distinguish them at all. This young duo is musically impressive, playing their instruments with the kind of precision that all young musicians wish they could harness. That doesn't make up for their lack of creativity, however. I could care less if these two could perform Beethoven's fifth on just two instruments, in the dark, at the bottom of a river, chained to a rock, and lacking a breathing apparatus. They can't write their own stuff with any measure of gravity or persistent energy. Other similar bands at least have an energy or a mystifying and completely unexplainable candor that makes listening to their records fun. Moha! simply stumble through ten tracks in order to reach the end. Their awkward percussive sounds and firmly square guitar playing imitate plenty of abstract, formless rock with all the success of the most ardent fan boy, but they don't ever explode or find a center of their from which they might expand.
This gives Raus Aus Stavanger that dreaded academic quality. For all their ability they aren't really working anything out of their instruments that might be new enough to stir any excitement. Only so many records can be released pushing the same limit of composition and style before everyone gets familiar with it and wishes somebody would write a decent tune again. In so far as noise, tonality, and timbre are concerned, there's nothing that shines, either. Olsen can drum out a storm of death metal proportions, but with flair. He moves all over his drum set constantly, pulling fills and unexpected turns out his ass like a well-seasoned veteran peppered with tasmanian devil cartoon antics. When he does this, Hana pulls out all the appropriate distorted non-riffs and gurgling dynamics that turn his guitar into a horn instrument more than anything else, but it just doesn't sound fresh or particularly ear-catching. The craziness congeals for brief moments only to let all the tension ease away with a suitable orgasm. I've heard friends churn out this same sort of hazy guitar work just sitting around and having fun. They weren't intent on making any of it into a song just because they had a nice tone.
When Moha! rock on two tracks they are passable as a band that I'd love to see live. I'm sure all sorts of shit would end up burning and I would leave observing bruises on everyone's bodies, but because the band tends towards prolonged "experiments" with percussive clatter, the whole album makes even the quality of their live performances doubtful. I can only take so much live messing about before I get bored and wish somebody would play something even remotely similar to a traditional song. I get bored of the same old thing just like everyone else, but music like this is starting to sound like the same old thing.
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