MOTIONS OF DESIRE

Magic Pie is kind of a Norway's answer to the Swedish band Flower Kings, who brew a stew of all the popular 70s prog ingredients and make it as pleasant as possible. If you dislike Flower Kings for these attributes, stop reading right here. If you like them, then by all means give Magic Pie a try. There are some minor differences - Magic Pie, for example, is less reliant on jazz and more on harmonious playing and loud organ rock a la Deep Purple or Uriah Heep. But the principle is the same - feel-good nostalgia.

The album features three 6 minute songs, and three very long songs, transitions are handled smoothly enough. So, even if these guys are not original, they are still good songwriters and instrumentalists.

Sonically, it seems as if the band thinks that instrumentals are their strong point. And while the guys, in face of the pleasantness, can rock out, that leads to vocals, alternating between several singers, being uncomfortably buried in the mix. Like the Flower Kings, vocals are not strong, but pleasant enough for the mix to be more even.