The musical ambition of Eggs is preposterous. The basic resources for Eggs are reported as nine months in a country house with extra sessions using the organ in a nearby church. And, frankly, the sound makes the claim credible. However many tracks went into each track, numbers like 256 and 512 wouldn’t seem like exaggerations. The big choirs, large string passages, huge percussion, terabytes of digital sound and huge natural resonances demand cinematic playback, at least. My simple home stereo seems dreadfully humble in its presence: it's a mere tent in a gale of rococo sound.
There are just five of them in the band. But it does sounds like each one brought a regiment of friends to the campaign, and a lot of the friends seem to have brought additional sonic mysteries, pets and exotic fantasies.
On the ten seductive songs (each one worthy of an Abba single all on its own) nothing, absolutely nothing is stinted. The sensory overload is gloriously psychedelic. Elephants trumpeting like backwards sitars, heart rate monitors and vacuum cleaners going off in the rain forest rhythm section, bewildering key and tempo changes are everywhere. The sheer rush of ingredients syringe your ears with madness. Dizzy dizzy dizzy. The shifts in scale, from tiny scrape to cavernous echoing baritone voice (supported by heavenly chorus) are ridiculous fun. The pulse is thrilling.
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After nine tracks of completely fabulous pop showing off, "Beelitz" pauses theatrically and then hurls itself into rhapsodic overkill for the rock-operatic finale. Every bar has "how did they do that?" noises. Somehow it holds together. Did these people study classical composition? Or just Queen at their maddest? I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't both, with frills. Even so, the result is sensual rather than intellectual. More Poulenc than Bach.
OH NO ONO have an established reputation in Denmark. This February is the start of their approach to a bigger world - through The Leaf Label in the UK and Friendly Fire in the US. Early reports suggest the world might need to scale up their receptors to fit in all that Oh No Ono have to offer. My advice is: go in without too much artificial stimulant and just let yourself go. The ghost of 1967 and the 3D surround sound of 2010 will be with you.
There is genuine novelty here, with more than enough solid architecture to justify the shimmering imagination.
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