Thee Oh Sees are the psychedelic garage rock brainchild of mastermind John Dwyer. Now I've been a huge fan of these guys for so long. Not too shocking, I got into Thee Oh Sees around the same time that I discovered my love for acts like Ty Segall & The Black Lips. However, like Ty, Thee Oh Sees have always had one problem in my book, too much freakin' material. Personally, I would MUCH rather see an artist spend an extra 6 months with an album and really make it special. Some of these California bases garage rockers are pumping out albums and side projects every 4 months, and the results are varied. Thee Oh Sees are no exception. While they've released some of my favorite garage rock albums ever like "The Masters Bedroom Is Worth Spending The Night In", the criminally underrated "Putrifiers II", and "Carrion Crawler/The Dream", albums like "Drop", "Floating Coffin", and "Mutilator Defeated At Last" were all GOOD, but had plenty of weak moments. So when 3 months ago Thee Oh Sees released the VERY solid "A Weird Exits" album, I was pleased, I thought Thee Oh Sees were done for the year and leaving 2016 on a good note. Not only that, but John Dwyer seemed like he had reached a creative peak I hadn't seen him on in years. 3 months later though, here we are with another release, "A Weird Entrances". However, I did have some high hopes for this, as this is apparently a companion piece to "A Weird Exits", and was recorded in the same sessions. So let's chat about this new Oh Sees record, shall we?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agZqIr37rmE
(From Thee Oh Sees "A Weird Exits" earlier this year)
From the beginning guitar line of the opening track, “You Will Find It Here”, you can really tell that a lot of the material here is going to have the same sort of feel to it as Thee Oh Sees previous outing. The guitars are bold and clearly are going for that same sci-fi feel to it, and there’s enough distortion to make even the pickiest Oh Sees fan brighten up a bit. The rest of this intro is, a little on the disappointing side to be honest. This is more of a jam than anything, and if you’ve seen Thee Oh Sees live than you know that they can surely jam. But I have the same problem with “You Will Find It Here” that I did with a lot of the material on Thee Oh Sees “A Weird Exits”, clearly this would be better to experience in a live setting. A track like this was made to be improvised live. In a studio setting, this just comes off as a bit unfocused for Thee Oh Sees. However, “You Will Find It Here” does have it’s moments. For one, it has some really intense drum passages that I can’t get enough of, and they certainly still have the atmosphere down. But the vocals on this one don’t come in for over half the song, and until then it’s just a jam, which certainly isn’t bad but it’s just not what I want to hear from Thee Oh Sees. When everyone stops messing around and “You Will Find It Here” turns into a classic Oh Sees sounding track, it’s actually quite good. That hypnotic guitar riff reminds me of their earlier studio recordings like “The Masters Bedroom…”, while the more clean production reminds us clearly this is from the same recording sessions as “A Weird Exits”. This one continues to have a Sci-Fi feel and all, but it’s a very grand Sci-Fi feel, and very epic. Not to mention, when those group vocals come in they do absolute wonders for the atmosphere here, seriously adding in some great tension, a distant feeling of oncoming dread, and once again giving me flashbacks to their “Masters Bedroom….” days. But all of this gets me wondering, was that prolonged intro really worth it? If they ended up shaving that down a bit, this would have been a classic Oh Sees track through and through. Now, similarly to “A Weird Exits”, there are going to be some old school Oh Sees fans that find tracks like “You Will Find It Here” to be tame, and trust me, it pretty much is. However, it’s got a great atmosphere, one seriously worth digging into. Next up is “The Poem”, the earliest released track from this companion album, and a track that listening to it really made me question what “A Weird Entrances” is all about. From the opening guitar notes, this is by far the most serene and peaceful Oh Sees track I’ve ever heard. That statement alone is bizarre for me to even write, as I’m used to Thee Oh Sees’ brand of garage rock dripping in reverb and heavy psychedelic imagery. It’s almost a little too peaceful though, and for me, this brings up a major problem I have with every single track on this album. While a lot of these tracks are good, they would have been so much better in the narrative of the album. What made “A Weird Exits” so enjoyable was it’s narrative. It all felt so concise, a lot of the tracks flowed together and made for what sounded like the soundtrack to an over the top, B-List Sci-Fi movie. On their own, they would have been ok, but together they sounded so good. On this album, and on tracks like “The Poem”, there’s a lot of good stuff going on. But knowing this is a companion piece, I’m dying to know if it fits into the narrative, and where, and what does it even mean? I would have loved this track to lead up to the finale of “A Weird Exits”, HELL I would have love for this to BE the finale of “A Weird Exits”. “The Poem” is pleasant, and it’s an interesting break from the usual Psychedelic onslaught of Thee Oh Sees, but it demands to be held amongst the same narrative as “A Weird Exits”. On a separate note though, it IS interesting to hear Thee Oh Sees borrow from seemingly new influences, as they give up their usual straight up Psyche-Rock sound for a more classic, almost British Invasion sound. “Jammed Exit”’s intro gives away that were going to be up against yet another instrumental jam. Once again, I like just a little more structure from Thee Oh Sees for my preference, but “Jammed Exit” DOES have a lot of really fantastic things going for it. The synth here is ridiculously corny and completely over the top. But that’s literally exactly what I loved about “A Weird Exits”, just how ridiculous it was. The flute that comes in is an entirely different story, it’s such a classy sounding flute that really lightens up the mood a bit. When Thee Oh Sees were saying that the material here is from the same recording sessions as "A Weird Exits”, they clearly weren’t fibbing. While this is still much cleaner production, Thee Oh Sees still to this day haven’t really lost their edge and continue to really nail these atmosphere’s they keep going for. While “Jammed Exit” remains a jam, I enjoy it thoroughly. But once again, I find myself dying to know where it would have fit in the narrative of “A Weird Exits”. Also, their earlier albums have been so chaotic , for an instrumental I was expecting a little something more down that road, cause this is damn near hopeful sounding. I digress though, “Jammed Exit” remains interesting the whole way through, as it constantly seems to be evolving as an instrumental. It’s not going to be for everyone, and it certainly isn’t perfect, but it’s solid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSGRBpafry8
Next up is “At The End, On The Stairs” which starts off with a little groove. And I know what you’re thinking, that certainly doesn’t really fit in with everything else. And you’re absolutely right, it really doesn’t. And because those almost peppy instrumentals, I can assure you the lyrics here are just as sunny and out of place. Of all the tracks here, this clearly feels the most out of place. Not only does it sound like it wasn’t recorded for this album, it doesn’t even sound like it was recorded by this incarnation of Thee Oh Sees. There are a few classy guitar licks later on that are ear grabbing, and there is certainly plenty of that bizarre imagery that Thee Oh Sees are known for as well. In a lot of ways, At The End, On The Stairs” is adorable. And I mean that in the worst way imaginable. It sticks out like if a puppy was placed in that last scene of The Evil Dead where Ash burns the Necronomicon (what a great scene). Yea, it’s sweet and all, but what the hell is “At The End, On The Stairs” doing here?! It has a very sunshiny, Psych Pop feel that you would think Thee Oh Sees would nail, and it’s usually stuff I love as well. But “At The End, On The Stairs” is certainly not for me. And once again, in reference to the narrative, why is this here?! What is its purpose?!? I have way too many questions about this for an Oh Sees album. On “Unwrap The Fiend Pt.1” however, instantly there’s a fantastic guitar sound I can freely embrace. Once again though, this really doesn’t sound like this current incarnation of Thee Oh Sees, which is kind’ve strange. But at least you can actually tell this is them with all of the distortion, fuzz, and noise (Which at the end of the day is really what we came to see). “Unwrap The Fiend Pt.1” is all about the guitars, which is something that I honestly haven’t said in ages about Thee Oh Sees. While this one still has a fine atmosphere, it’s not too dominant, it’s just enough to help us sit back and seriously enjoy these instrumentals. There’s also a killer groove on this one, something else I’m really not used to when it comes to Thee Oh Sees. That being said though, it works well, but what’s with all of these instrumentals? 3 of these tracks are completely instrumental, with a 4th being mostly as well. But while I usually don’t really care for their jams, “Unwrap The Fiend Pt.1” has structure and a common theme, and comes off pretty well. The final piece here is “Nervous Tech (Nah John)” which brings back in that atmosphere in a big big way. There’s almost a minimal feel to this one, with these ominous jingling bells in the distance and once again some really intense drum passages. The guitars here while they don’t sound exactly PRETTY, they seriously sound like they’re in some legitimate pain. Everything about “Nervous Tech (Nah John)” is incredibly subtle, and in this sort of black atmosphere Thee Oh Sees have created you seriously never know what instrumental is going to pop out and freak the hell out of you. You don’t know what sound you’re going to hear next, or how loud it’s going to be, if it’s going to be clean or distorted, in that respect this is pretty exciting. “Nervous Tech (Nah John)” overall isn’t the greatest thing ever, but it’s a really solid drum track overall, and these are some of the grizzliest guitars I’ve heard from them in years. While most of these tracks would seriously come to life within a narrative, this is still an OK companion piece.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8tLmhhbPc4
Give A Listen To - "You Will Find It Here", "The Poem", "Jammed Exit", "Unwrap The Fiend, PT. 1"
From the beginning guitar line of the opening track, “You Will Find It Here”, you can really tell that a lot of the material here is going to have the same sort of feel to it as Thee Oh Sees previous outing. The guitars are bold and clearly are going for that same sci-fi feel to it, and there’s enough distortion to make even the pickiest Oh Sees fan brighten up a bit. The rest of this intro is, a little on the disappointing side to be honest. This is more of a jam than anything, and if you’ve seen Thee Oh Sees live than you know that they can surely jam. But I have the same problem with “You Will Find It Here” that I did with a lot of the material on Thee Oh Sees “A Weird Exits”, clearly this would be better to experience in a live setting. A track like this was made to be improvised live. In a studio setting, this just comes off as a bit unfocused for Thee Oh Sees. However, “You Will Find It Here” does have it’s moments. For one, it has some really intense drum passages that I can’t get enough of, and they certainly still have the atmosphere down. But the vocals on this one don’t come in for over half the song, and until then it’s just a jam, which certainly isn’t bad but it’s just not what I want to hear from Thee Oh Sees. When everyone stops messing around and “You Will Find It Here” turns into a classic Oh Sees sounding track, it’s actually quite good. That hypnotic guitar riff reminds me of their earlier studio recordings like “The Masters Bedroom…”, while the more clean production reminds us clearly this is from the same recording sessions as “A Weird Exits”. This one continues to have a Sci-Fi feel and all, but it’s a very grand Sci-Fi feel, and very epic. Not to mention, when those group vocals come in they do absolute wonders for the atmosphere here, seriously adding in some great tension, a distant feeling of oncoming dread, and once again giving me flashbacks to their “Masters Bedroom….” days. But all of this gets me wondering, was that prolonged intro really worth it? If they ended up shaving that down a bit, this would have been a classic Oh Sees track through and through. Now, similarly to “A Weird Exits”, there are going to be some old school Oh Sees fans that find tracks like “You Will Find It Here” to be tame, and trust me, it pretty much is. However, it’s got a great atmosphere, one seriously worth digging into. Next up is “The Poem”, the earliest released track from this companion album, and a track that listening to it really made me question what “A Weird Entrances” is all about. From the opening guitar notes, this is by far the most serene and peaceful Oh Sees track I’ve ever heard. That statement alone is bizarre for me to even write, as I’m used to Thee Oh Sees’ brand of garage rock dripping in reverb and heavy psychedelic imagery. It’s almost a little too peaceful though, and for me, this brings up a major problem I have with every single track on this album. While a lot of these tracks are good, they would have been so much better in the narrative of the album. What made “A Weird Exits” so enjoyable was it’s narrative. It all felt so concise, a lot of the tracks flowed together and made for what sounded like the soundtrack to an over the top, B-List Sci-Fi movie. On their own, they would have been ok, but together they sounded so good. On this album, and on tracks like “The Poem”, there’s a lot of good stuff going on. But knowing this is a companion piece, I’m dying to know if it fits into the narrative, and where, and what does it even mean? I would have loved this track to lead up to the finale of “A Weird Exits”, HELL I would have love for this to BE the finale of “A Weird Exits”. “The Poem” is pleasant, and it’s an interesting break from the usual Psychedelic onslaught of Thee Oh Sees, but it demands to be held amongst the same narrative as “A Weird Exits”. On a separate note though, it IS interesting to hear Thee Oh Sees borrow from seemingly new influences, as they give up their usual straight up Psyche-Rock sound for a more classic, almost British Invasion sound. “Jammed Exit”’s intro gives away that were going to be up against yet another instrumental jam. Once again, I like just a little more structure from Thee Oh Sees for my preference, but “Jammed Exit” DOES have a lot of really fantastic things going for it. The synth here is ridiculously corny and completely over the top. But that’s literally exactly what I loved about “A Weird Exits”, just how ridiculous it was. The flute that comes in is an entirely different story, it’s such a classy sounding flute that really lightens up the mood a bit. When Thee Oh Sees were saying that the material here is from the same recording sessions as "A Weird Exits”, they clearly weren’t fibbing. While this is still much cleaner production, Thee Oh Sees still to this day haven’t really lost their edge and continue to really nail these atmosphere’s they keep going for. While “Jammed Exit” remains a jam, I enjoy it thoroughly. But once again, I find myself dying to know where it would have fit in the narrative of “A Weird Exits”. Also, their earlier albums have been so chaotic , for an instrumental I was expecting a little something more down that road, cause this is damn near hopeful sounding. I digress though, “Jammed Exit” remains interesting the whole way through, as it constantly seems to be evolving as an instrumental. It’s not going to be for everyone, and it certainly isn’t perfect, but it’s solid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSGRBpafry8
Next up is “At The End, On The Stairs” which starts off with a little groove. And I know what you’re thinking, that certainly doesn’t really fit in with everything else. And you’re absolutely right, it really doesn’t. And because those almost peppy instrumentals, I can assure you the lyrics here are just as sunny and out of place. Of all the tracks here, this clearly feels the most out of place. Not only does it sound like it wasn’t recorded for this album, it doesn’t even sound like it was recorded by this incarnation of Thee Oh Sees. There are a few classy guitar licks later on that are ear grabbing, and there is certainly plenty of that bizarre imagery that Thee Oh Sees are known for as well. In a lot of ways, At The End, On The Stairs” is adorable. And I mean that in the worst way imaginable. It sticks out like if a puppy was placed in that last scene of The Evil Dead where Ash burns the Necronomicon (what a great scene). Yea, it’s sweet and all, but what the hell is “At The End, On The Stairs” doing here?! It has a very sunshiny, Psych Pop feel that you would think Thee Oh Sees would nail, and it’s usually stuff I love as well. But “At The End, On The Stairs” is certainly not for me. And once again, in reference to the narrative, why is this here?! What is its purpose?!? I have way too many questions about this for an Oh Sees album. On “Unwrap The Fiend Pt.1” however, instantly there’s a fantastic guitar sound I can freely embrace. Once again though, this really doesn’t sound like this current incarnation of Thee Oh Sees, which is kind’ve strange. But at least you can actually tell this is them with all of the distortion, fuzz, and noise (Which at the end of the day is really what we came to see). “Unwrap The Fiend Pt.1” is all about the guitars, which is something that I honestly haven’t said in ages about Thee Oh Sees. While this one still has a fine atmosphere, it’s not too dominant, it’s just enough to help us sit back and seriously enjoy these instrumentals. There’s also a killer groove on this one, something else I’m really not used to when it comes to Thee Oh Sees. That being said though, it works well, but what’s with all of these instrumentals? 3 of these tracks are completely instrumental, with a 4th being mostly as well. But while I usually don’t really care for their jams, “Unwrap The Fiend Pt.1” has structure and a common theme, and comes off pretty well. The final piece here is “Nervous Tech (Nah John)” which brings back in that atmosphere in a big big way. There’s almost a minimal feel to this one, with these ominous jingling bells in the distance and once again some really intense drum passages. The guitars here while they don’t sound exactly PRETTY, they seriously sound like they’re in some legitimate pain. Everything about “Nervous Tech (Nah John)” is incredibly subtle, and in this sort of black atmosphere Thee Oh Sees have created you seriously never know what instrumental is going to pop out and freak the hell out of you. You don’t know what sound you’re going to hear next, or how loud it’s going to be, if it’s going to be clean or distorted, in that respect this is pretty exciting. “Nervous Tech (Nah John)” overall isn’t the greatest thing ever, but it’s a really solid drum track overall, and these are some of the grizzliest guitars I’ve heard from them in years. While most of these tracks would seriously come to life within a narrative, this is still an OK companion piece.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8tLmhhbPc4
Give A Listen To - "You Will Find It Here", "The Poem", "Jammed Exit", "Unwrap The Fiend, PT. 1"
Rating : 7.1/10
Overall Thoughts: If you go into this album taking it as it's supposed to be, a companion work to the earlier "A Weird Exits" project, you'll be just fine with these songs. For the most part, the material here has a whole lot of the same atmosphere as it's predecessor, and they DO for the most part sound like they were recorded in the same sessions. That all being said, if you dug "A Weird Exits" you'll PROBABLY dig a lot here. However, some of these tracks just seem like they would have fit so much better actually ON "A Weird Exits" and not just lingering around to go on some mini-album months later, that's my only real issue with this.
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