Originally written by Sam Lewis · 26 May 2008
Thee Oh Sees
The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In
Label: Tomlab Release Date: 26/05/2008
The press blurb for ‘The Master’s Bedroom is Worth Spending A Night In’ says that the record is, like its title, ‘undeniable’. That much is certainly true. Formerly known as OCS, San Fransisco-based Thee Oh Sees are fronted by John Dwyer, perhaps best known for his other bands, Coachwhips and Pink & Brown, both furiously raucous and intense. In each act the keyword was noise, noise paired with garage pop in the Coachwhips, and with wild abandon in Pink & Brown, but still, noise nonetheless. Thus it’s no surprise to find Thee Oh Sees similarly focused on sonic texture - the record (their second under said moniker) dripping with honey-thick layers of sludgy guitars and reverb-laden vocals.
The opening two tracks, ‘Block of Ice’ and ‘Visit Colonel’ are both dark, thrilling interpretations of a bygone sound, all irreverent, indistinct vocals and primal riffs, imbued with a 1950s clatter and verve. They, the young Wild Thing crawling out the primordial swamp. As you would imagine Dwyer’s exploration of the sound creates some fascinating results, tracks like the rip-roaring, fat-free ‘Two Drummers Disappear’ making groups like The Kills seem positively anaemic.
Sadly, it’s a bluster the record as a whole fails to carry. You feel like this kind of rock, even with the esoteric side-winding the group inject it with, is best suited to short, sharp bursts – too many of the songs here exceed their time limit. It may seem like a strange thing to say, but even four minutes seems like too long for a track based around the pure basics; even more so when every song on ‘The Master’s…’ has the same formula - ‘Quadrospazzed’, for example, seems to run out of steam before its finale.
There’s not a bad track on The Master's Bedroom..., but sadly there aren't too many especially good ones either; nevertheless the record’s vigour out of the traps is enough to make it a worthwhile excursion in fifties dynamics, raw and vitalising as they are.
• 6 Sam Lewis's Score