O’Death : Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/odeathbrokenhymnslimbs.jpg" alt=" " />O’Death stays on top of the freak-folk game with their latest, <em>Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin</em>....
7.7 Kemado
2008 

 O’Death stays on top of the freak-folk game with their latest, Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin.  While the five-piece may be based out of Brooklyn, NY, their sound, combining fiddles, honky-tonk, twang, and maybe everything this side of a jug, comes from the backwoods of America, albeit tweaked and freaked in the indie-est of ways.  While certainly not for everyone, O’Death’s signature style has developed since last year’s much-talked-about Head Home, and is still most certainly all their own.

Like records from other bands that have their own unique take (such as Clinic’s Do It!QRO review), the different tracks on Broken can sound fairly similar to one another, especially on first exposure to the band, but there is variety amongst the songs.  Some, like the speedy opener “Lowtide”, the grander “Grey Sun”, or the dark pleading “Home”, go for an ominous haunt.  Others go for a group-sing-a-long, like “Fire on Peshtigo” (about an actual 1871 fire in Peshtigo, Wisconsin) or the hootenanny of a finish, “Lean-To”.

Yet the core of Broken, the core of O’Death, is their frenetic, energetic stomps.  This is most notable in the driving standout, “Ratscars”, but also present on the memorable “Legs to Sin”, pick-to-shout/crash “Mountain Shifts”, and the up-down “On an Aching Sea”.  When the band tries to mix that with quieter, slower elements, the results are too clashing, such as with the meandering “Vacant Moan” and rock-press vs. wistful folk “Crawl Through Snow”.  Stronger is when they try really new things, like the removed, fuzzy vocals over removed, fuzzy freak-folk on “A Light That Does Not Dim” (written in honor of drummer David Rogers-Berry’s fiancé, Eliza Sudol, who died of an aneurysm last year).  Even more notable is the carrying, sadder, more straight-folk penultimate piece, “Angeline”; in fact, this is something that O’Death should do more of.

After turning heads with Head Home, O’Death faced a bit of a quandary: just do the same thing that got them noticed, and risk being a retread of themselves, or strike out in new directions, and risk abandoning that which got them attention in the first place.  Thankfully, they’ve managed to square that circle by developing their sound into a real ‘sound’, more distinct than simply unique.  Still only one of a few players in their corner of the sandbox, here’s hoping O’Death can keep on growing.

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