(Imperative Residence)

Geometry: so good, it hurts

Dead Beat is the follow-up to Ohana’s debut album of 2007, Weak Wrists, which was a collection of old demos that sounded too good not to release. The Wollongong post-punk/hardcore four-piece were a suffocating sprawl of angular, mid-boosted guitar, complex drum patterns and half-shouted vocals. Dead Beat is not that album however. Indeed, it’s the opposite. A concise collection of geometric art-rock, the sophomore album is conceptually divergent from their sonically smothering debut. Replacing adolescent white noise are intricate sonic shapes, with each instrument playing just enough to move the songs forward. The band constantly shift the listener’s attention across the aural landscape, like the deft pan of a master cinematographer. The guitars are still angular and metallic, but now cleverly interwoven, with pseudo-funk bass lines that add white-boy groove to the rigid song structures. Kino Verzosa’s drumming holds the whole convoluted thing together – changing focus at precise moments, and creating interest through polyrhythm and structure. In contrast, Will Farrier’s vocals are sparing, but used to particular effect. And while the album itself , at 26 minutes, is short even by modern standards; at that length it still feels like a complete, singular work. Personally, I wouldn’t change a thing.

JAKEB SMITH

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