Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Thee Oh Sees-Minotaur



To say Thee Oh Sees are back always seems wrong because they never really leave. If they're not releasing a new album, they're releasing a new single. If they're not touring (and they are always touring), then they are collaborating with another artist, or running Castle Face Records to help bring more music into the world. The energy required to keep track of everything they do is quite massive, but well worth it for a band as creative as these four art damaged, garage weirdos. Everything about their upcoming latest album screams that nutball mentality, from the eerie/trippy/crazy cover art and equally freaky (but awesome) title Floating Coffin. However, "Minotaur" the closer from that album, invokes not just the opposite of all that, but almost the opposite of everything one knows about Thee Oh Sees now.

It is a slow burner, a near waltz in it's percussion and John Dwyer's vocals, which are stripped of their usual falsetto and instead now contain lovely, near cool mid-tone to them. Their guitar chords are deliberate and strong, never noodling or flying off the hinges, perfectly enhanced by the strings that float around the song. Even during the band's early, sun baked folk days did they create something this cohesive or melancholy. This probably the most mature Thee Oh Sees have ever been, and while a tag like "maturity" seems ghastly inappropriate for them, "Minotaur" proves just the opposite.



Links:

Thee Oh Sees' Website
Pre-order Floating Coffin here, from Castle Face Records

2 comments:

  1. Do you know if this already sold out, or if it's not actually up for pre-order yet?

    thanks duder.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I believe it just hasn't gone up for pre-order yet. Usually you can still see the the sold out stock at Castle Face. So no worries.

    ReplyDelete