The image that Oh Sees frontman John Dwyer conjures in my mind is similar, albeit less malevolent, to Mr. Dark in Ray Bradbury’s classic novel ‘Something Wicked this Way Comes‘.
Mr. Dark and his night circus roll from town to town, arriving in the deep shadows of the night to mesmerize folks with swirling magic and enchanting spells. Mr. Dark ultimately feeds off the life-force of those in attendance and that’s exactly what the new record ‘Face Stabber’ does as you listen.
‘Face Stabber’ is the 22nd album from the many-named band (Orinoka Crash Suite, OCS, Orange County Sound, The Ohsees, The Oh Sees, and Thee Oh Sees). They use Oh Sees here, the same version of the moniker that brought us ‘Orc‘ and ‘Smote Reverser‘.
It’s almost impossible to describe this record, but I will try: fuzzed-out jazz fusion avant-garde cosmic funky jungle jam psychedelic metal punk should cover it, and I’m sure you’ll find a different way to describe it to your friends. But one thing is for certain; the musicianship is off the charts.
Leading off with the almost 8-minute long ‘The Daily Heavy‘ this 14-track double-length record clocks in at an hour and a half, without a dull track to be found. It’s a challenging listen for sure, but it’s worth it. Multiple listens will help decide what your favorite tracks are, and mine keep changing with each listen. There’s the chill jazz vibe of a song like ‘Snickersnee’, the Motorhead propulsion of ‘Gholü’ and the funky psychedelic jam of the 14 and a half minute long ‘Scutum & Scorpius‘.
The title track is a turbo-charged cousin of Edgar Winter’s ‘Frankenstein‘ and ‘Heart Worm‘ is a blistering garage punk rager. ‘Together Tomorrow‘ is what it would sound like if Al Di Meola jammed with Frank Zappa and the album closes with the 21-minute long psychedelic masterpiece ‘Henchlock‘ with its sexy 70s vibe.
On ‘Face Stabber‘ Dwyer and his night circus pull into town as a shape-shifting necromancer that musically envelopes us in a curtain of smoke for one song only to reappear on the other side of the room for the next. Mind-blowing.
Out now on Castle Face Records.
John Dwyer – guitar, vocals, electronics, synthesizers, percussion, sax, samples, Mellotron, field recording
Tim Hellman – bass, percussion
Tomas Dolas – organ, synthesizers, Mellotron, percussion
Dan Rincon – drums, percussion
Paul Quattrone – drums, percussion
Brigid Dawson – additional vocals
Brad Caulkins – alto and tenor saxophone
Mario Ramirez, Enrique Tena Padilla, Eric Bauer – percussion
