October 31, 2019

Oh Sees Face Stabber

9.5 / 10 Can’t get enough Oh Sees

Oh Sees Face Stabber is a mind blowing feast of weird psychedelic rock with in-your-face guitar tones burning holes in the speakers. Songs short and long with extended jams and “pop” music with intriguing vocals that are strangely catchy. Face Stabber is a great album of Fuzz rock guitars and proto-punk dance rock, dance weird, dance funky and be blown away.

The short upbeat acid pop rock songs are energized and surprisingly bubbly. The key boards and synth give the songs a greater depth of arrangement and open the door to new sounds and tones. This album is great and will please psychedelic rock fans everywhere!

The big evolution on this album is the more complex arrangements and song writing brought in by the addition of a dedicated keyboardist Thomas Dolas of Mr. Elevator. The interaction of his organs, synth, keys and John Dwyers own contributions to the synthesized sounds on his Teenage Engineering synth create new textures and complex progessions. The addition of the Keys also gives backing tracks for extended jams which stretch into experimental rock explosions.

Oh Sees has had undeniable impact on the psychedelic rock scene as many younger bands are riding the John Dwyer weird ass music wave. In fact, many bands have riffs that distinctly sound like Oh Sees and the reason why is because Oh Sees kicks ass! One of the best live bands out there. Bands accused include King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, Slift, Ty Segall, White Fence and others who are all awesome bands, no offense intended.

Oh Sees formerly Thee Oh Sees is the love child of John Dwyer who sings and plays guitar on the album. The album is also released on his label Castle Face Records. The band records in a room playing all together in order to feel and hear each other in real time not just through headphones. The albums take on a live feel with ecstatic energy blasting off into the rainbow roller coaster.

This double LP has songs short and long ranging from under 2 minutes to 22 minutes in length. They build in some wild guitar in every track. The vocal style is John Dwyer’s unique pirate singing with staccato notes and lyrics which all together seem like scenes from a fantasy.

The dual drummer makes for a big drum sound which is tight and beautiful. The bass is played by Tim Hellman who lays down incredible bass lines. The rhythm section as a whole is great allowing the songs to go anywhere and stay guided and groovy.

“Scutum & Scorpius” is a long song which has layers of keyboards and synth which build to prog rock drama and quickly rip back into treble boosted guitar solos. This song reminds me of Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland with extended funky jams and burning fuzz wah guitar.