Labels: self released
Review by: Andy Malcolm
This 3 track CD (given it’s photocopied cover and CDR nature, I would suggest it was a demo), is an interesting mix between solid indie rock and some bad stuff. The bad stuff is the occasional lapse into having a backing vocalist scream, farting about with guitar effects, and having the main singer indulge in some daft things like singing “C-C-C-C-COULDN’T”. Outside of these tendencies, this is a pretty solid effort. The guitars attack loudly and melodically, with some grungey Smashing Pumpkins leanings going on. The vocals on the whole are decent despite sounding slightly American (this band is from the UK). The second song might be the pick. Infectious, relying on repetition to achieve that effect. I really would be dispensing with the effects and electronic overtones though, the band would stand taller without them for me. Track three comes out with really cheesey guitar effects, that put me off straight away, this one never really gets going, riffing away tiredly at an uninspired medium pace, and sounding like the early stumbling efforts of a band still working out how they want to sound.
Overall though O’s music is catchy and often has more of a feel of mid 90s alternative rock than 2008. They actually list bands like the Wrens and Dinosaur Jr as influences (there is definitely a point in track two where they have a Wrens guitar sound going on), so you know they’re coming at this from the right angle. I’d have to say this is not a bad effort, despite a few elements that rub me up the wrong way.