2007 was a watershed year for music and videogames. Go
back and look at a list of releases in either medium and you’ll find some of
the most beloved and influential titles of the modern era. 2007 felt so jam
packed with excellent albums that it inspired me to start my music blog at the
beginning of 2008. More than any other year I experienced during the time I was
keeping up with new releases, 2007 felt like a tidal wave of variety and
excellence. I’m still discovering
albums from 2007 that I missed out on the first time around. I don’t know if I
would have enjoyed Sucks Blood as
much back then, but today it’s another addition to the list of
great-to-exceptional albums from that year.
Somewhat lost in the shuffle of a stellar year for
music, Oh Sees released Sucks Blood
on March 20th (or May 15th, according to Wikipedia).
Confusingly, the album cover continues using The Oh Sees as the group’s name,
though the inside cover lists them as their soon-to-be-semi-permanent moniker,
Thee Oh Sees. I guess we’re still going through a transition, something borne
out by the music. In addition, Dwyer and the group were going through a couple
other changes. 2007 was the year that Dwyer’s Castle Face Records was founded (indeed,
it was started to release Sucks Blood).
More importantly, the album features the debut of Petey Dammit as bassist and
second guitarist. If I recall correctly, he often played the role of bassist by
running a typical electric guitar through pedals and/or a bass amp to get a
fatter, lower sound, possibly using a lower tuning as well. Sleater-Kinney’s
two guitarists use similar techniques, and as with Dammit’s work with Oh Sees,
it’s an effect I really love as it gives a rock band a more unique sound.
Despite its fearsome title, Sucks Blood is actually a very mellow and sluggish record, and in
some ways it serves as a more focused, better produced version of The Cool Death Of Island Raiders. Sucks Blood starts off with the red
herring of ‘It Killed Mom’, a loud rocker that points to the future before the
album immediately pulls back into the freak folk style that had defined the Oh
Sees project. At least this time the production isn’t as overstuffed and
distant/muffled sounding as Cool Death.
Also crucial is that the songwriting is consistently excellent—‘Golden Phones’
and ‘Iceberg’ being some obvious career highlights, featuring Brigid Dawson’s
lovely backup vocals. I’m not crazy about the odd choice of church bells used in
the background of ‘Iceberg’ but I will give them credit for using the singing
saw way less often. When it does make an appearance on the aforementioned ‘Golden
Phones’, it actually blends in well and adds to the slow, dreamy feel of the
track. Finally, as with the previous record, I dig the use of the two untitled
drone tracks to lend some variety to the proceedings. Actually, the second
drone track is worth noting because it’s the closest Oh Sees ever got to ambient
music. It’s a field recording of outdoor wind and bird sounds, providing an
appropriately languid and mellow end to the album.
Sucks
Blood is a great record, a hidden gem in the band’s vast
discography as well as the flood of other great 2007 releases. It serves as a
satisfying capstone to the first phase of the band’s life, the last time they
couldn’t be classified as a rock band. While I am very excited to get to the
garage rock era of Oh Sees, I really want to take the time to say how much I’ve
enjoyed exploring the freak folk era. It’s a different side of this band and
Dwyer’s work in general, and it’s given me a different appreciation for them
that I didn’t have before. Anyway, next time on the retrospective: get ready to
crank the volume and enter the mosh pit.
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