The new album from Ohmme is, like its predecessor, the kind of record that skips over any easy genre label to reside in its own territory. Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart again reveal the deftness of their artistry, and the further extent of their musical chops. Fantasize Your Ghost, out now via Joyful Noise Recordings, is a delight, frankly.
"Flood Your Guts" continues the Roches-inspired material we heard on the last album from Ohmme, but "Selling Candy" is even better, and far more distinctive. The vocals are clear, and harmonies crisp, but the crashing guitars take this into another realm entirely. Elsewhere, "3 2 4 3" favors rhythmic experimentation, roiling and rolling like "Spell It Out" as well. This kind of stuff defies any description, and a reviewer is likely going to harp on the pieces here that feel familiar, even as the whole package seems totally unique. If "Sturgeon Moon" seems bolder than anything we've heard from Ohmme so far, bracing bits of jazzy instrumentation underpinning this, "After All", the soothing closer, is more deliberately assured. This one, like nearly every cut here, succeeds so much because Cunningham and Stewart work up wonderful harmonies, and supple, and clever vocal-lines.
Fantasize Your Ghost is out now via Joyful Noise Recordings.
More details on Ohmme via the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Ash Dye]