MoE, Lasse Marhaug

*2023 stock* The band MoE (Guro Skumsnes Moe, Håvard Skaset and Joakim Heibø Johansen) and electronic noise aviator Lasse Marhaug are both prolific staples of the Norwegian music scene on their own, but have over the years also collaborated on various other projects. Most recent on the Skaset/Moe acoustic side project Sult, that resulted in the notable album «Harpoon» (rated as one of the best experimental albums in Rolling Stones in 2016), and Marhaug and Skumsnes Moe's work on the soundtrack to the Mexican film "The Untamed", which this year won best film at the Mexican movie awards.

For "Capsaicin" the four musicians team up for a four-part meltdown that takes their mutual passion for monolithic sound blocks to new extremes. The piece starts with a lone sludge bass, and as guitar, percussion and electronics in order join the piece slowly builds to a swirling mass of frequencies that keep mutating throughout its 78 minute duration. This is not easy listening, "Capsaicin" does not settle into the comfort of drones - plateaus are established, explored and abandoned. The choice of title for the album is a less-than-subtle clue to the music's intent: capsaicin is the component that gives chili peppers its burning sensation.