Othered is a new project that revolves around Henry Austin Lannan and Emily Palen or Knightress M1 as Emily is also known. The album is about what it's like to distrust every word uttered by our political masters and mainstream media in the middle of a pandemic, where you are never certain of the truth of what is happening all around the world. The album was recorded at El Studio in San Francisco with Phil Becker producing it.
The album opens with the ambient intro of Coastal I that as the bass drum starts to thump leads into Planets On the rise a slow and careful song with Emily Palen singing about gravity on other planets and shooting stars with guitars firing off like retro rockets every once in awhile as shrieks of no responsibility echo around the speakers.
Journey To The Edge has a heavy riff as the claustrophobia of lockdown is explored as they try to find a way through all the pain as the world is turned upside down as the bass and drums get heavier and heavier.
War is full of dread and doom at the endless need to start Wars, this was written and recorded before the current Ukrainian tragedy started to unfold, but is in tune with the madness and stupidity of trying to enforce your will through battle, driven along by a storming bass line and chiming notes and what sounds like a rattlesnake slithering across the room as she tries to stop men fantasizing about war or even worse starting actual ones. You can get this in clean and unclean versions, it's better on the album unclean obviously.
Redless has a doomed down tuned riff and searing guitar solo on a powerful instrumental interlude. Dead Americans is a dread filled eulogy for all the Dead Americans of the past few years, especially those ones that obeyed the puppet masters and still met there end far too soon.
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Centre Of The Galaxy swirls around as the sheer gall of those humans are certain this planet is the Centre Of The Galaxy as the slow guitars slither around and the feeling nothing is right anymore slowly permeates as she begs for everyone to say what they mean and mean what they say.
Pink In June doesn't sound like the soundtrack to a garden party especially with lyrics about a slow death.
The album closes with Coastal II that almost sounds like it has a Keytar solo on it, set against the deep bass rumble and some of the most upbeat sounds on this album to leave us with a sense that things might at some point get better, the album fades out to the sound of birdsong that goes well with the birdsong I can hear from the garden once the album ends.
Find out more at https://otheredoak.bandcamp.com/releases https://www.instagram.com/otheredoak/
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