 As you may or may not know, Oceansize are one of the greatest bands Britian
have produced in a fair bit of time. Bringing together the prog elements of
Floyd and the experimental indie of Radiohead, with a good few driving riffs
interspersed, the quintet from Manchester unleashed debut album "Effloresce"
on the world late last year. The album was packed with intelligent texture
and structure, cracking rythyms, some top-drawer riffage and memorable
lyrical turns ("What a way to go, we're still running from a bus that we
missed years ago" speaks Massive Bereavment)
However, the work of the 'Size doesn't end there. Ohh no. They come back in
2004 with this, an EP entitled "Music For Nurses". The title has a story behind it, here explained by frontman Mike Vennart - "Producer Chris Sheldon was ranting about Dido, saying she makes music for people who don't like music, coffee table stuff. It reminded me of a similar act, M People, and one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, from when I used to work in a hospital. I had to order 25 tickets for one of their concerts. Bloody music for nurses". So there you go.
The EP itself sees Oceansize moving in a different direction entirely than Effloresce. Whereas on the album they were happy to go off in all sorts of directions, on this they have found a new sense of urgency. The music is far more metallic, although still firmly planted to its supersized progressive base. On this EP, it becomes quite obvious that they've been soaking up a lot of Tool, especially evident in closer "As The Smoke Clears"
'One Out Of None' is a juggernaut of a track, sure to get heads nodding in maginificent unison on the new tour, which starts in October. 'Paper Champion', a track that has been on the 'net for quite a while now, has an ominous, haunting quality to it, something they have studied from Tool aswell.
It looks like someone, or something, has lit up a fire under Oceansize. However, if more results like this are produced, I'm not too impartial.
Ollie Connors |
| Coding: Darren Burrows