By Louis Addeo-Weiss
Speaking rather vaguely, experimental music isn’t something you turn on when driving with friends as a means of “catching a vibe,” as modern lingo would suggest.
Having said that, that doesn’t bar experimental music from entering our stream of consciousness. As I’ve said before, the oddity and anomaly that are the surplus of experimental music genres holds its own inherent sense of beauty.
A good example of this is Portland’s own Ohellia.
A two-piece comprising of Jordan Feil (guitar, vocals, drums) and Jeremy “Jerm” Jimenez (bass, synthesizers, drums), the duo, presenting us with their first, eponymously-titled EP, with an aesthetic that can best be described as such: Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band having a bar brawl with Cabaret Voltaire while dance-punk onlookers peddle them with bottles of bitter-tasting spirits.
Simply put, these two have unleashed an auditory-guerilla assault on pop conventions.
Opening track, “Every One,” hits the ears as something akin to what Ian Mackeye’s Fugazi would sound like had he embraced mind-altering substances (no embracement of such here), with an intro that lends itself to the world of post-rock and drone. And while it may appear an odd choice to open this mini-musical journey clocking in at just under 15 minutes, it’s a stunning preview for the madness that soon ensues.
“I Like To,” the first piece of music released in advance of the EP, which dropped on April 20th, is the result of what happens if you stuck the exploratory synths of Aphex Twin and the vocal phrasings of Trent Reznor in a bowl and mashed until they resemble your favorite Thanksgiving potatoes. It’s an odd pairing, but given where this mini-release has already taken us, it’s apt, and it works.
Given its brevity, lasting the aforementioned 15-or-so-minutes and encompassing merely five tracks, to say there are any deep cuts here would be like saying there’s too many songs on “Thick as a Brick,” but the descending jam that ensues at the end of “Holes” serves as the EP’s highlight.
The guitar work resembles that of something Bill Hackelrod would’ve birthed on “Trout Mask Replica,” accompanied by drums playing in a similarly frenetic manner.
Closing track “Creatures” is the closest the group comes to embracing hardcore punk, though lead singer Fiel’s screams take a back seat to the walls of guitar and drums that flood over the track like a tsunami on shore. In an experimental sense, it’s art punk, but it isn’t, as even ardent fans of Wire may appear a bit flummoxed at what they’re hearing.
There’s a beauty in that dichotomy of contrasting stylistic influences though, as you’d be foolish to peg these guys as one-trick ponies.
All in all, Ohellia’s first auditory extension of themselves to the music listening world is borderline-heralding. With a range of sounds spawning ambient and electronic music, post-punk, and the avant-garde, they’re an act worth devoting time to.
