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Album Review
by SashaS
20-7-2002
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| Obi's 'The Magic Land Of Radio' |
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Obi: 'The Magic Land Of Radio'
(Cooking Vinyl)
Obi offer us a trip in space and time
If there is alt.country, can there be neo-alt.country? Well, our obsession with categorising everything is getting out of hand and Obi might just fall through the fingers… American West plays here such a subsidiary part that to call it anything but pop music in the broadest sense should be sanctioned under the Misinformation Act. Obi’s ‘The Magic Land Of Radio’ takes you forward, to an enchanted place where dreams dwell and there are no strikes, plagues of traffic wardens and no congestion charges will ever be imposed. Well, exactly what great music should do – take you out of routine living.
This quartet came together in London in 2000 after former band mates’ paths re-crossed and Obi was reborn. (It had existed three years earlier with a different line-up.) Singer Damian Kathkuda was working solo and Dam Hazlehurst thought his songs could do with a band backing. A friend, Ben Kempton, who had played with them occasionally in 1999 but turned to DJing, didn’t need much persuasion to get back behind his drumkit. Multi-instrumentalist Tom Worsley joined the collective to aid creation of something more impressive than what’s been blocking our crap-clogged senses.
Taking the country-idiom as its foundation, Obi embark on different journeys: the opening ‘Somewhere Nicer’ is a jolly little pop-country-rocker, ‘What’s In A Name’ is a ballady-but-epic cut that instantly puts a spell on a listener; ‘All The Stars’ is a mellow and gentle observation of time’s erosion that floats so quietly like if it were a butterfly. ‘Home On The Range’ is a like a sonic-film of a train bringing a disillusioned ‘optimist’ home to where ‘partner’ is still waiting.
Toying with soft country tone, Obi modernise it with some tight drum work, vibes and loops while keeping the feel essentially acoustic. Vocalist Katkhuda is a storyteller rather than a frustrated star who is dying to fill in your sound’n’vision; he simply is there to provide the narrative, to guide you through and over the hush fields fondled by light breeze. He is a restrained vocalist but there is no need to raise his voice, the band is there to enhance and underline rather than to be overcome.
‘Piano Song’ is simply an artwork of unimaginable beauty: echoing guitars and falling piano richly support the vocal and yet the song feels like a vapour, as fragile and stunning as a bubble. More mainstream country is ‘Leave These Shores’, while the concluding track, ‘After Thought’, is as pure as a mountain spring while angels play strings au naturel.
Obi – not named after the ‘Star Wars’’ Jedi-warrior but an Arlo Guthrie character – have made an album of eight songs only that lasts… well, too short. Just over half-an-hour leaves you baying for more. So, you play it again, Sam.
8/10
SashaS
20-7-2002
Obi’s album ‘The Magic Land Of Radio’ is released 15 July 2002 on Cooking Vinyl
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