- As members of Bristol's Young Echo collective, Neek and Amos Childs have various projects on the boil. But as O$VMV$M they do one very specific thing: loops. Across a cassette and an EP last year, they locked a motley collection of samples into elegant, slow-mo repetition. They stick to this humble remit on their Idle Hands follow-up, which features another ten tracks, each passing in the slow blink of a drowsy eye. They've refined their technique, and bits of O$VMV$M have an emotional pull lacking on the duo's other records.
This might be down to the skilful use of singers. Sometimes they're obviously sampled, as with the delicate woman's voice in "The Rain," which stutters and flutters over the gentlest hint of a head-nodding beat. Sometimes it might be the duo themselves, as on "Need U," where a male falsetto emotes over gorgeous, twirling Rhodes. And sometimes they're processed into a raspy melisma beyond recognition: "Eazy" is quietly pretty, "Yung E" is gloomier.
O$VMV$M's straightforward sound lends itself to a surprising variety of moods, but this EP's best moments are on the sweeter side. The soft-rock guitar of "Oasis Weir" makes for an excellent opener, and "Reverse," with its gentle melodies, is the highlight. The darker moments aren't so charming—particularly "Sleep," whose sinister piano and downpitched voice sound like a moonlit encounter between DJ Screw and Bohren & Der Club Of Gore.
Lista de títulos01. Oasis Weir
02. Backdrop
03. The Rain
04. Reverse
05. Need U
06. Fists
07. Eazy
08. Yung E
09. Sleep
10. Somebody