Oh, My! - 2013 - This Be Weird E.P.

Post Punk

[FOR FREE]

http://ohmyband.bandcamp.com/album/this-be-weird-e-p

• 4 songs to download
• You name the price (min 0,-)
• You get the link if you register your email address
• Listening recommendations: Subconscious Living

Impressions

Oh, My!'s name is tailor-made for all manner of headline, though I will spare you any for this review. I cannot help but hear old Sonic Youth in here. That's all I'll say about it, since there isn't more to it than that (I think it's something about the vocals - go listen to SY's “Eric's Trip”, come back and listen to Oh, My! and see if it's all in my head.) Now on to This Be Weird. It's an EP of four floor stomping, chest pounding tracks from the Sacramento quintet known as Oh, My! Things start off auspiciously enough, a lone drumbeat intro and get a little math-y, a little prog-y, all good, from there on out. The vocals are easily decipherable (even the throat-shredding yells), which is something that will instantly sink or swim a post-hardcore record for me. Here the triple vocals are a real treat, two males and a smokey-voiced female. She has a blues rock vibe that's reminiscent of the angry female that Juliette Lewis conjures up on her records, the male lead gives a forceful, commandeering yelp that's very speak-sing as if he will not stop until you've seen things his way, and oh will you. Closing things off with a five and a half minute, guitar-driven instrumental is rather ballsy, especially when the tempo of the song starts off so much slower than the previous tracks, but I don't think this EP could have ended any other way. It's just a perfect crescendo (even if “Gold Rush” itself never really has one) to the album. The whole EP builds and builds, then subsides, awash in an anxious atmosphere of strings that simply dies away, taking all anxiety and anger with it. I may have missed some of the deeper meaning going on in the lyrics, but I will be listening to this EP a lot in the coming days and weeks, so if there is more to it, I'll suss it out. I would suggest you all do the same and give Oh, My!'s This Be Weird E.P. a go.