Thee Oh Sees- Drop Review

Album: Drop

Artist: Thee Oh Sees

Genre: Psychedelic Garage Rock

6.0/10

   Their albums just don’t stop coming, and maybe that’s not the best move for Thee Oh Sees anymore.  Their follow-up to the monstrous Floating Coffin, Drop, is not a bad record, but it’s an underwhelming record.  In an effort to embrace a more psychedelic aesthetic, they’ve brought in some synths and some slight vocal changes, but the end result is confusing to put it briefly.

    The album starts off with a banger though (as most Thee Oh Sees records do) with the synth-tastic "Penetrating Eye".  Embellishing arpeggios combined with that classic garage rock riffage we’ve all come to love creates an opener that really shows the potential of the record.  The album continues rolling with a great unexpected groove on "Encrypted Bounce" with that classic major/minor chord alternation that grabs the ear.  "Transparent World" brings the true fuzz though.  The deep, grimy bass seems to have a resonant frequency with your eardrum while the vocals barely brush your ears.  But if you’re worried that they’ve strayed too far from the band you know and love than make sure to pay attention to the self-titled track.  It’s got that distorted, dissonant, upbeat, and psychedelic sound characteristic of Thee Oh Sees.  Plus of course it has like 4 different guitar solos.

     But this record is overall a step down for the band.  It’s an intermediate record for sure.  There are some new aesthetics mixed with some of their classic techniques, but it’s done in a plodding, sometimes unfamiliar way.  “Put Some Reverb on My Brother” is a confusing mess of acoustic-guitar choruses and out-of-place sax lines.  “Camera (Queer Sound)” is formulaic and has far too many “oohs” and “aahs”.  “The Lens” sounds like a more “normal” “Minotaur” off of Floating Coffin with its cello and softer vocals.  There are some key cuts here, but there’s not enough for me to drop more than a 6.0 out of 10 for these guys this time.

    

FAVE TRACKS: Penetrating Eye, Encrypted Bounce, Transparent World