Hailing from Gainesville, Florida, Oh Sanders has released their debut The Death of Nature at a time when that sentiment is pretty much fact, not conjecture. So it seems fitting that lead singer, Stella Leung, is a woman given all those Mother Nature stereotypes thrown around for the last couple thousand years.
So what does all of this really add up to? Well, The Death Of Nature is heavy on the synths, slinky guitar riffs and features a confident and commanding vocalist and band whose mission seems to get a bit funky in the face of the chaos at hand.
This especially comes to mind on “Season For Sleeping,” a ska-like number (in it’s blippy synth line and head-bobbing bass) that would rather get you dancing than ponder its message of the fear of change…I think that’s the message anyway.
Oh Sanders have the ability to make subtle changes to certain artistic formulas and make them exciting again. On “You Should Have Been Nicer,” the band uses the guitar washes of My Bloody Valentine, but breaks them down into stop-start drumming and keyboard arpeggios so that when the guitar washes return for chorus, it feels really like a wave ebbing and flowing and ultimately super satisfying.
Sometimes the band gets a little too silly lyrically for my taste like on “Underwater Voyeur” (the science metaphor is stretched too thin) and maybe a little bit on “Conspiracy To Commit Arson,” but on the latter the Faint-like synth line and genuine sentiment win me over in the end.
Oh Sanders’ The Death Of Nature is a solid debut and something I listen to more than I realize. Its message may not be as clear as it could be, but I think I feel it more than anything else and that’s probably more important anyway.
Mp3:
Oh Sanders-“You Should Have Been Nicer"
Link:
Oh Sanders on Myspace!
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