They say:
When receiving this new album by enigmatic motorik outfit Och, I had hoped that the band had taken their name from the well-known Scottish linguistic trope. More specifically, I entertained vague hopes that they were perhaps (as I am) huge fans of the late Fulton MacKayi and, tuning in, had become so captivated by his expostulations of “Och, Fletcher” in much-beloved Seventies prison sit-com Porridge, that they had actually named their band after it.
Sadly, I was to be proved wrong: the name is actually a word from their native Swedish tongue, and translates as, well, “and”. Think the conjunction in the name of their esteemed countrymen, Träd Gräs Och Stenar.
That was, though, to prove the only disappointing thing about this release. Coming hot on the heels of a self-released EP in 2014 (!), this debut album for Rocket Recordings provides us with eight slabs of colossal instrumental. Available photos show the band with woolly hats pulled down over their faces – making them look strangely redolent of a row of mangelwurzels – but their playing itself is razor sharp.
Beginning with a train-based field recording, opener “Jag Är Här, Jag Är Här” soon assails us with a wall of feedback and an ominous, rumbling riff that might suggest we are sitting down to the credits of a new John Carpenter movie (if only). “Baum Baur” grooves wickedly, bringing to mind soundtrack classic “The Pink Room” by Angelo Badalamenti (I think it’s the echoey drum sound that does it), whilst “ÅKKSÅ” slaps on some kosmische warpaint, gives us a strong tab of acid and blows our minds in the Acklam Hall...
Read the res here: Freq
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