I’m fortunate to live in a part of the world where natural beauty and splendour is only a short drive away. As you weave through some struggling, rural valley communities and head for the peaks of the Welsh mountains, there you can stand, arms wide open, looking out on what seems like a million miles away from the current political unease and unfairness in the modern world. There, at that point, it would be appropriate to sample In Central European Time, the latest album from Norway’s Dig Deeper.

Dig Deeper’s sound could best be described as the 13th Floor Elevators transporting Americana across the Atlantic to the most psychedelic parts of Norway. The focal point on this 6 track album, that weighs in at 41 minutes, is that of the band’s disdain at their country’s elected politicians in 2017 and their policies regarding immigration.

Opener How Can I Be Certain sets out the stall perfectly and builds as you try to find the sun through the fog and clouds on that aforementioned mountain top. With slide guitar over acoustics, Einar Kaupang’s voice goes from soft verse stylings to Neil Young at his strongest when he fully opens up his vocal chords.

Stars Tonight (Have You Seen) follows and is probably the most accessible and commercially appealing of all the songs on offer. Don\’t Ask Too Much questions fear and doubt whilst backed by effect drenched guitar work. With Hey! and The Ticket, could it be pure coincidence that it’s 11am on a Sunday morning and an apocalyptic red sky has suddenly fallen over the UK following a storm?

Pushing the 10 minute mark, Sky Brown Sky closes the album and sounds like a song the Velvet Underground lost in a heroin daze. As it closes I’m left pondering alongside Dig Deeper on why a blind eye is often turned on basic human rights.

When it comes to Norwegian bands, my feet are usually planted in the noisy camps of Turbonegro, Glucifer, Honningbarna or The Good, The Bad and The Zugly, so this album is more than a departure and others will have far more musical reference points than I. That said, with it’s portayal of vast landscapes and it’s lyrics of concern and despair, like horrendous drug comedowns, you’re left questioning your own mortality and ones place on this earth. When I’m up that mountain again, Dig Deeper will be there with me to soundtrack such thoughts. Ginge Knievil