Album Review: O. - 'WeirdOs'
Prepare for sonic destruction with the arrival of O.’s first album, WeirdOs.
Tash Keary and Joe Henwood, the two who make up O., are sure to light up the ‘weirdO’ within you with this new album. After the success of their previous singles and 2023 EP SLICE, Keary and Henwood were lit up with enough creative ammo to prepare for this album.
Finding music to be a wondrous form of storytelling and artistic self-expression, this mindblowing duo have blended a multitude of genres, creating some kind of unusual hybrid sound that’s uniquely theirs. One can never put O. inside a box because they always find a way to escape it!
Beginning with the aptly titled, “Intro,” this one is a haunting ambient soundscape with strange clicks and beeping tones. Drum rolls filter in, growing more dramatic over time before coming to a clashing ‘n clanging finale, cymbals gone wild.
“Intro” merges into “176” where disturbingly loud horns make for an abrupt start to the song. There’s almost an aggressive reggae vibe going on here. Yet, it oozes funk, staying true to the original O. genre blend. “176,” a song title seemingly code for something only these ‘weirdOs’ know, begins to distort as the horns are filtered into another universe, soon beginning to enter the realm of progressive alt-metal.
“TV Dinners” begins with a metallic delay knocking off across the stereo field before settling into overpoweringly funky guitar. Fairly soon, an enticing drum beat starts. The song goes through several phases of evolution with these eclectic instruments. Anthemic oscillating synthesiser intensifies “TV Dinners” as a new and exciting addition, now and then, with a cutoff filter affecting the synth presence. A conversation between the delayed percussion, electric guitars, and feedback closes the song.
“Wheezy” is a series of haphazard alarms which begin glitching on some kind of demonic tape machine, the panic soon morphing into a rhythm-driven eclectic beat. Henwood’s demanding horns and Keary’s drums take charge. In the second half of “Wheezy,” manipulated synths come in, turning the craziness up a notch before going into ‘beast’ mode with insane compression and incredibly rough, gritty textures. O. are fully powered up and ready to go!
Next is “Micro” where it sounds as if the synthesiser has turned into an electronic creature, making all kinds of weird glitching sounds. Following that brief yet disturbing introduction, O. return to their norm of organised chaos with drums on steroids and horns mutating to another existential plane. Alarming pulses like retro video game sound effects add a sense of urgency. Halfway through WeirdOs, the music has fully taken over, and I’m not even sure Tash and Keary are still standing.
Bravely entering the second half of WeirdOs, “Cosmo” begins with an electric guitar dysfunction and a strangely quiet synthesiser soundscape, somewhat unusual compared to O.’s standard noise. A grumbling electric guitar with a foreboding drum section provides an underbelly to the soundscape until “Cosmo” eventually revs up. The synth-scape changes shape as layers are phased in and out like changing tides. Ending on a strong power chord, we hear the tape machine spiral out before being sent off into the next track.
A single released earlier in the year, acting as a teaser trailer for the album, the ever-intense “Green Shirt” is the two-minute climactic point of WeirdOs. Spinning in listeners’ heads, Keary furiously batters those drums into insanity as the synth bass bows lower and lower. There’s some insatiable sonic excitement here, leaving listeners on edge for more O.
“Whammy” is a film noir meets futuristic sci-fi nightclub vibe – think Vangelis’ score for Blade Runner (1982) and something Lynchian, too. A strange dance of slightly out-of-tune jazzy horns stretches out into an alluring segue of drum clicks and percussive cymbal hits, driving faster and faster, horns going higher and higher. At the breaking point, “Whammy” transitions into amp feedback and some mixture of jarring tape skips and hefty audio manipulation.
Our auditory adventure melts into the hip, funky “Sugarfish.” Almost rather glamorous sounding for O. in the beginning, it inevitably distorts into something far more destructive. Squelchy, anthemic bass chords indicate the gritty drama will be turned up a vital notch. A child’s voice speaks at the end, saying she wants ‘more O.’ – don’t we all?!
Luckily, our request – and the child’s – is rewarded with the atrocious grand finale, “Slap Juice.” Despite its brevity, this is by far the most intense and chaotic song on WeirdOs. Keary and Henwood go wonderfully diabolical with rising, teasing guitar chords, winding up listeners once more before WeirdOs is sent off into the abyss.
I genuinely can not wait for the next release from O. They’ve perfectly encapsulated their signature sound with WeirdOs and can only go further with what they’ve accomplished here.
Words by Sydney Kaster
