OCS have never been a group to stand still for too long. Since 1997 the band have gone by Orinoka Crash Suite, OCS, Orange County Sound, The Oh sees, The Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees and Oh Sees and, now, landing us back at the beginning with OCS. These shifts represent line-ups, changes of direction and sometimes the reason isn’t apparent at all. Memory of a Cut Off Head marks the band going back to their earlier material, which was a more acoustic-folk influenced area.

The record sees the return of John Dwyer working with Brigid Dawson, who’s worked with the band off and on throughout the years but is now taking a front seat on the record. At moments Memory of a Cut Off Head really reminds me of the Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile record from October. It has a ‘two kindred musical spirits’ feel throughout, especially in the title track. ‘Neighbor to None’ also has this feel to it and the album is a true collaboration. Dawson and Dwyer sound like two heads on the same body, both sounding completely connected and not like separate entities.

Over the last several years it’s become pretty easy to predict what records from Thee Oh Sees will sound like. Memory of a Cut Off Head is difficult to digest at times if you’re expecting it to sound like anything close to what they’ve been doing for the last ten years. Though, when your pattern becomes predicable, it’s the ideal time to break it. Title track and opener ‘Memory of a Cut Off Head’ is the best middle ground between the old and the new. It seems quite straight forward and pleasant until a very unexpected time change for the chorus which creates a sense of unease. At points it sounds like sinister Simon & Garfunkel in the vocal harmonies which are used to create some beautiful vocal sounds as well as some very unsettling ones.

‘On and On Corridor’ is one of the standout tracks for me. It’s what you’d imagine from Thee Oh Sees gone acoustic. It’s again in familiar territory and feels like it would happily sit on other records from the band. The album is at its best when it goes as far away as possible from the expected. ‘The Chopping Block’ is my absolute favourite track on the album and one I keep returning to. It sounds like John Dwyer’s own ‘Space Oddity’ and the clear Bowie reference is a real treat to hear. The song sounds like John Dwyer singing into the past and it has the best use of strings on the album. ‘Lift a Finger by the Garden Path’ is my other favourite and is a complete contrast to the thrashing garage rockers we’ve known for so long.

The use of strings is one of the best things about the album. The band are clearly very aware of their sound and are able to adapt it to different environments with ease. The record has a folk influence but it’s hard to pin down. It sounds like an album that’s come from a kind of forest cult, which will make perfect sense when listening to the record. To me, when listening to this, there are moments where I imagine forests where the trees have carved faces and the band come with crowns of twigs.

With the sheer volume of releases from the band it’s easy to forget about certain albums but, when you do stick them on, they do all give you a rush of energy and excitement. I really love some of the songs on here and I think it’s a welcome change from the band. There are just a few moments that make me lose interest in it. ‘The Baron Sleeps and Dreams’ has an extended outro of soft noises which don’t suit the record well. There have been moments like this on records from Thee Oh Sees but they work because of the impact the songs have. On Memory of a Cut Off Head the room to breathe is unnecessary.

There are plenty of great songs on Memory of a Cut Off Head, many that outweigh the ones that do let it down. As a whole album it’s not the best record from the band, some of the songs go on a little too long pursuing not all that much. However, when it does work it shows you a completely different side to a band many thought they were starting to pin down. What a good band does is build a sound around them, what a great band does is build their sound, throw it aside and do something completely new and OCS have done that.

Chris Middleton

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