Obsidian (OVOO)
It’s never easy to find your way through such a soundscape, and yet, Obsidian, the debut album by the Alpine band OVOO, offers more than one entry point that the attentive listener can explore to enter the indescribable universe created by Jean-Philippe, aka Astrocyte JFI (a whole array of instruments collectively referred to as “instrumentarium”), and Alexandre, aka Sid Negativv (drums, samples), the creators of this zany and unclassifiable project.
This album, which they themselves describe as “magmagnetic,” falls somewhere between progressive rock, post-rock, and the traditions of noise and ambient music, without fitting neatly into any single category. More than the limestone landscapes of the Alps, from which it inevitably draws a certain kind of vibration, the duo manages to summon energies and waves, which they translate into the guiding threads of an unexpected journey to which the listener is invited, a journey populated by unique instruments, created specifically for this purpose, that amplify the dreamlike quality of the project, paving the way for unprecedented sonic encounters.
Guided by the constraints of the various instruments, which ultimately allow him to break free from all other contingencies, Jean-Philippe continues this surprising dialogue between sounds, resonances, and vibrations across the album’s seven compositions, simply numbered in Roman numerals, without any other unnecessary titles. Averaging nearly 6 minutes each, these compositions gradually fill the space, allowing the sound to settle (“II”), tensions to stretch (“III”), and musical influences to blend (one might think of quite a bit of doom, stoner, and industrial, but let’s set aside those trite comparisons right away), and the musical lineages, all in the complete absence of vocals (with the exception of spoken word, as on “VI”), leaving the storytelling to the instruments and the imagination to the listener, who is invited to embark on this monstrous yet ethereal monolith in all its dimensions, much like the symbolic cover art by Jérémy Chinour.
The true gateway to this otherworld seems to lie in the heartbeat of the world, the beat of the ever-present drums, the sometimes hypnotic rhythm of this journey beyond familiar landmarks, which brings us face-to-face with the organic essence of the world, like a return to our earthly roots, to the raw power of our origins. So, even when the frenzied rhythm of this gripping album seems to run out of steam, in those very last notes, it’s impossible not to feel a kind of resonance unfolding within us, as if, in turn, we had reintegrated into the primordial matter, as if we were ready to let our own vibration nourish that of the rest of the world.
This is an album that’s surprising in more ways than one, it will captivate you just as it captivated us. It’s the true soundtrack to an unforgettable journey, and we can’t wait to invite you to join us on it.
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