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1. toodunderthefrozennightsky,
theretheywere.thelegendaryduo:
SolaireandAngel.OddOneIn.
Famousforbeinghardtogetholdof,theonlyinFamousforbeinghardtogetholdof,theonlyin-
terviewwemanagedtosealwiththebandwason
theirterms;beneaththenightsky,intheirhome-
townof(redacted].Byfarthemostsurre-
alscoopI’veevergotten,welaidoutinapitch
blackfieldaspickedtheirbrains.
“W e’vegotsomethingnewforyou.”Solaire
growled.“Andit’sgoingtochangeyourworld.”
Hewas,ofcourse,talkingabouttheupcoming
album“Skeletons”.Aptlynamedbecausethe
twowantedto“Stripthefatoffmodernmusic
andreplaceitwithcoldmuscle”
“It’sbeenalongtimecomingthatsomeonerein“It’sbeenalongtimecomingthatsomeonerein-
ventedourgenre”,Angeltoldme,“Andwegot
soboredofwaitingwethoughtwemightaswell
doitourselves.”.Thetwosetouttocreatea
farmorerichandcomplexalbumthantheirprevi-
ouswork,evenincludingtouchesof80’ssynth
rockandreportedlyablackmiditrack,butwhen
thefirstthreefinishedtrackswerecorrupted
byafaultycableduringrecording,somethingre-
markablehappened.
“Itwaslikethemusicstartedwritingitself.”
Solaireclaimed.“Certainfrequenciesofthe
trackscompletelyflattenedout,whereother
sectionsspikedtowildextremes.W eweregoing
toburnthetapesatfirst,butItookanhourto
tryandsalvageafewriffswe’dworkedoutand
withalittlecleaning,Ifoundentirelynewmelo-
dieswithinthenoise.”Thetwothenworkedwithdieswithinthenoise.”Thetwothenworkedwith
these“SurgeMedodies”astheycallthemto
producecompletelyillogical,yetstrangelyhyp-
noticinterpretationsofthetechnicalglitches.
“W e’rethinkingofcallingit‘AltSurge’,butwe
wanttoletthefansdecide.”Solairetoldme.
Iwasthengiventhechancetolistentoaproto-
typetrackthroughmeansofacassetteplayer
thatthetwohadonthem(?)andmixedwiththe
freezingcoldandnear-pitchdarkness,itwasnot
afarcryfromanout-of-bodyexperience.W ith-
outrevealingtoomuch,thenewalbumsounds
freshandstrange,butasifyou’veheardita
thousandtimesbeforeinyourdailytrawl.
Rhythmsofcrowdsandthescreamsofcity
trafficaremixedwithclassicOOIbasslines
andhauntingvocals,allofwhichareencapsulat-
edwithinthismechanicalscreamingfairlyremi-
niscientofanoldinternetrouter.Itsounds
awfulinwritingbuttrustme,ifyou’vereadthis
farintothearticle,you’regoingtoloveit.
AsthetrackcametoacloseIremovedthean-
cientheadphonesandbegantotellthepairmy
thoughts,buttherewasnoreply.Theyhadleft.
SothereIwasinablackenedfieldwithmy
cameraandthecassetteplayer,andIwasn’t
surewhetherornotanyofthathadjusthap-
pened.Ihavesincetriedtoplaythetrackinthe
re/verbofficebuttonoavail;thetapeissome-
howruined.OddOneInwillneverceaseto
amazemeintheirseeminglyeffortlessdedication
totheircraft.
Iftherestofthealbumisasmysteriousandwon-
drousastheexperienceIhadwiththeduo,weare
inforaVERYspecialtreatinthenextfew
months.Thealbumisoutlatespringtime,andI,
forone,cannotwait.
W eNeverAskedforthis”-OddOneIn
speakoutabouttheir“AccidentalAlbum”
ElliotS-A,baffled
Journalist.
“Itwaslikethemusicstartedwritingitself.”
“W e’vebeenblessed.”
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