The band OddOneIn, comprised of Solaire and Angel, are preparing to release their new album "Barebone" which was created in an unusual way. During the recording of their previous EP, a technical issue corrupted their work but also created strange new melodies within the noise. The band salvaged these "Surge Melodies" and worked them into new tracks for the album, hoping to take the chillhop genre's background vibes and push their own work through it. They view the technical malfunction as providing a perfect opportunity for innovation on their next release.

1. OddOneIn
”WeNeverAskedforThis”
TheNeo-Punkduospeakoutabouttheir”Accidental
Album”
toodunderthefrozennightsky,
theretheywere.Theever-sought
andnever-foundduo;Solaireand
Angel.OddOneIn.
NNotoriouslydifficulttopindown,theonly
interviewwemanagedtogetwiththeband
hadtobeontheirterms.Theiremail
dictatedsimply“Fine,ourplace,friday,
midnight,bringacoat.”.Thatwasit.
AsAsetofattachedco-ordinates(yes,really.
co-ordinates.)ledtoafieldoutsideasmall
village,assumedlywherethetwomustlive.
Ofcourse,thepairwerealreadywaiting
there.There’salottobesaidforpresenting
acertainband“image”throughacrafted
personality,butthiswasvergingonthe
wrwrongsideofridiculous.Aninterviewina
fieldatnight?That’snotjustunsettling,it
feltflat-outwrong.
“We’vefoundsomething.”Solairegrowled.
“Wethinkitmightbethenextstep.”
It’snotoftenabandtalksabout“finding”
newmusic.Hewas,ofcourse,talkingabout
theduo’supcomingalbum “Barebone”,that
muchwasclear.Anamewhichapparently
referstotheband’sintentionto“stripthe
fatoff”analreadysparse,stillgrowing
genre.
“It“It’sbeenalongtimecomingthatsomeone
broughtsomenewlifetoalt”,Angeltoldus.
“Wegotsoboredofwaitingthatwethought
wemightaswelldoitourselves.”Thetwo
havesetouttocreatearicher,more
complexand“genuinelyarticistially
considered”album thantheirprevious
workworks.Aconsiderationwhichmanywould
seem toagreewith.Thepastyear’ssingles
workhasgottenalittletooAphexTwin-ny
foralotoffans,oratleastreviewsseem to
tell(see:November2015’sedition!).The
elusiveupcomingalbum willapparently
featurevery“basic”elementsofthepair’s
“Itwaslikethemusicstartedwriting
“We’vebeenblessed.”
16 17
itself.”
foriginalinspirations;80’ssynth-rock,late
90’sgrungeandSolaireevenjested“we
mightchuckablackmiditrackonthere,you
neverknow!”.Wewouldn’tbesoworriedif
wecouldn’timagineitactuallyhappening.
ThelTheleadmessagethepairwantedtoget
across,though,wasofthealbum’sstructure.
“We,likeanyonewithadecentsetofspeak-
ers,havebeenlisteningtotherecentupris-
ingofchillhopoverthepastfewmonths.It’s
agreatwaytorelaxbetweengigsandworks
wondersonsleeplessnights!Seeingagenre
likethatbebirthedanddevelopedsoquick-
lyremindsusofourownoriginsandwe,like
somesortofstrange,melodramatic,remar-
riedcouple,wanttoadoptthatlittlebundle
offun.”It’snotamoveanyonesawcoming.
Bringinganythingcalm intoalt-rock?DoOOI
wanttoruinthegenrethatmadethem?
“Butwe’redroppingthechillpart.”.Angel
clarified.Faithrestored.
ShetoldthestoShetoldthestory.Afterfinishingrecording
oflastJune’s“Sinew”EP,somethingstrange
happenedduringthealbum’sconstruction.
“Wethinkitwasacablespark,butwhatever
happenedmesseduphoursofwork.TheEP
weactuallyreleasedwasrestoredfrom a
backupbutwewereleftwiththisstrange,
distorteddistortedversionoftheworkwehadjust
made.Exceptwehadn’tmadeit.”
“Itwaslikethemusicstartedwritingitself.”
Solaireclaimed.“Certainfrequenciesofthe
trackscompletelyflattenedout,whereother
sectionsspikedtowildextremes.Wewere
goingtoburnthetapesatfirst,butItookan
hourtotryandsalvageafewriffswe’d
workedoutandwithalittlecleaning,Ifound
entientirelynewmelodieswithinthenoise.”The
twothenworkedwiththese“SurgeMe-
dodies”astheycallthem toproducecom-
pletelyillogical,yetstrangelyhypnoticinter-
pretationsofthetechnicalglitches.“Itcan’t
standaloneasmusic,it’smorenoisethan
melody,butwewantedtotakethatchill-
hop-esquebackgroundvibeandpushour
ownworkthroughit.Thisdisruptionprovid-
eduswiththeperfectopportunity.”.
Theplanisfor,likethecracklypianoriffs
andcrispbeatsofachillhoprecord,thisdis-
tortedversionoftheband’solderrecordsto
echobehindtheirnewlywrittencontent.
Angelcompareditto“buildingonwhatwe
alreadyknow”;revisitingoldriffsandideas
withabrand-newstateofmind.Neat.
“It’lleitherworkoritwon’t”,Solaireadmitted,
“we’vetakenhitsbeforeandwe’rereadyto
takeanotherifthisflopsbutwehopethere’s
atleastsomeoneouttherewho’llenjoywhat
we’remaking.Attheendofthedaythat’s
whatit’sallabout,right?”
SowhatSowhatawaitsusonthisnextalbum?We’ve
beenassuredthattherewillbesinglesas
strongas“FightierThanThou”andconcept
tracks(almost)aslongas“RiseUp”,but
muchofthething’ssubjectmatterremains
uncertain.Allwecanassumeisanunderly-
inglayerofdistortedpreviousworkbehind
thenthenewtracks.Doesn’tsoundlikemuch,but
thepairsaid“you’llknowitwhenithits”.The
guyshereintheRE/VERBofficeare,forone,
dubioustosaytheleast.
Onethingiscertain,however.OddOneIn
areback,andthat’ssomethingwecanallre-
joicein.Atruecornerstoneofourgenre
haverisenupagain,butwilltheystandas
tallasbefore?Onewaytofindout.
Whatdoyouexpecttohear
inthenewalbum?Isthis
innovation?Laziness?
Ingenuity?Letusknow!
yourthoughts@reverb.co.uk