Osees by Jessica Calvo
John Dwyer’s output as the sole constant in garage punk/psych band Osees could one day nip at the ankles of prolific geniuses like Merzbow or Sun Ra. With an Osees catalogue large enough to have its own corner of the record store, Dwyer is certainly worthy of the company, although the multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, visual artist and record label owner might humbly disagree.
Osees kick off their 2024 at Winterland Six in Jacksonville, teeing up dates across North America, Europe and Japan. It’s the latest full-band incarnation of a project that Dwyer launched in 1997, first as a solo artist, under the name Orinoka Crash Suite. He’s ridden the highs and lows ever since, relocating up and down California, steering Osees through personnel changes and seemingly endless variations on the name (Thee Oh Sees, The Ohsees, Oh Sees, among others), exercising and exorcising his demons through variations of freak folk, acoustic punk, noise, and alt psych.
Always driven by the fringe resonance of heavy-duty psychedelics, the band shoulders the weighty history of garage rock and its wailing offspring with confidence, and deploys its influences in concentrated bunches to achieve a sound that is pure rock n’ roll bliss.
For many it was 2008’s The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In that brought them into the fold, with bangers like “Block of Ice” and dreamy drivers like “Maria Stacks” and “Poison Finger.” But curious listeners won’t stop there, and the rewards aren’t strictly sonic. The album artwork is often indicative of the accompanying musical state. Floating Coffin (2013) pays subtle visual homage to Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (that is Lucifer Sam peering through the strawberries, isn’t it?). Carrion Crawler/The Dream (2011) is steeped in Vic Rattlehead tea.
Last year’s Intercepted Message— Osees 28th album — is a lean, 41-minute, punk-rock romp that’s been primped and preened at the synthesizer salon. Not necessarily a new direction for the band but certainly a departure from a recent suite of more punk-forward albums.
Osees perform Saturday, February 25 at Winterland Six in Jacksonville. theeohsees.com winterlandpresents.org ~ Abel Folgar
