Oh! Custer
"States" CDR
Series
Two Records
Genre: dream pop, indie pop, lo-fi
Malmo, Sweden / Oslo, Norway
May 8, 2009 |
There are hordes of lo-fi pop bands out
there churning out chiming, C-86-influenced dream-pop, yet few produce
songs as endearingly infectious as Sweden's Oh! Custer. States, an
album comprised of two EPs, is a flatly excellent pop release, as well
as the first record put out by what has become the now-prolific Series
Two label.
Awash in some joyfully overt shoegazer
influences, the band weds anthemically jangling guitars with memorable
vocal melodies. The first EP (States proper) is the more polished of
the two, with several immensely listenable nuggets. The real fun is
had when the reverb is turned up, as on “Post” and “So Much Better.”
The second EP, Leaves, is considerably more lo-fi, although the
brilliant melodies still glisten; “Spoiler,”
the prime example, is delicious,
reverberating bliss. Not every song hits all the right notes,
particularly near the record's end (questionable drum machinery on
“Late,” disorganized song structure on “Fields of Autumn”); however,
the overall impression is largely positive. It must be conceded that
Oh! Custer's songs sound more similar to one another that might be
predicted, but this cohesion only leads to a consistently glorious
album. So far, this is the best I've heard from Series Two Records.
oh! custer's
myspace
84%
Michael Tau
[Vitals: 11 tracks, 200
copies, distributed by
the
label,
released July 3, 2007] |