Review Summary: “A dream also precisely serves the function of making us drift away from everything”
In a lot of ways, Berlin-/Cologne-based five-piece Oracles are simultaneously case in point and subversion of the typical up-and-coming indie band of today’s age. As much as their online presence conveys a passion for 70s-styled appearance and the music of that time (their website is a constant feed of pseudo-vintage photographs among YouTube footage of well- and lesser-known bands of the last 50 years), there is an inherent self-deprecating touch to the way Oracles appear in the public. Be it the “Ω”-eyed figure on the album cover of
Bedroom Eyes or the downright absurd music video for “Thoughts Of Love On The Verge Of Sleep” (following the actual music video, a sexologist gives a hilarious monologue on the parallels between dreams about flying and the sensation of orgasming, set against a background loaded with all kinds of trashy decor), Oracles seem to understand the ridiculousness that comes with worshipping the idols of yesteryear. A bit of both has bled into their debut full-length record, released via German label This Charming Man Records.
Clocking in at just above 50 minutes,
Bedroom Eyes requires a patient ear. Many of the twelve songs take their time exploring intro riffs before segueing into conventional song structures; opener “Lacerate Slowly” foregoes those altogether, instead stretching an initial synthesizer motif over a runtime of five and a half minutes. With its dreamy inertia, it foreshadows what permeates a lot of the record’s songs – rarely do Oracles break the consistently withdrawn, psychedelic feel that is established right at the beginning of the album. Multi-instrumentalists Joshua Gottmanns, Nils Herzogenrath and Dennis Jüngel are hardly constrained by traditional roles, switching instruments and alternating with singing duties between songs. The music, as a result, feels very democratic – all instrumental parts sound equally well developed, no individual performances stick out unduly. Worthy of note are the consistently unobtrusive but imaginative rhythms of drummer Niklas Wandt, the inventive harmonic changes, and the fluid bass lines, which, for the most part, display just as much melodic variety as the numerous guitar and synthesizer lines that stretch across the instrumental-dominated arrangements.
As much as this non-hierarchical approach aligns with the lush, dreamy production, it also becomes a hindrance – in the absence of standout performances, the weight of making impressions bears down on the arrangements and sounds themselves. It actually works out very well when the band keep concise: “Constellations” introduces second singer Nils Herzogenrath delivering a convincing performance despite his rather limited technical abilities. He is accompanied by a drily mixed rhythm section that contrasts with spacious chords and sound glitches as well as the lush backing vocals of first singer Gottmanns (who features on most of the other songs) and his band mates. On hobbling 3-minute piece “Stunted”, Oracles manage to conjure up the atmosphere of sweltering summer afternoons with drawn-out synthesizer pads and hazy guitars filling up the soundscape. Elsewhere, the songs appear surprisingly dry, with spacious effects used quite sparingly. Where
Stanford Torus seemed to engulf the listener, on
Bedroom Eyes the band consciously avoid spreading out too much over the sonic spectrum, instead assigning a rather fixed spot to each instrument.
However, in combination with the sometimes meandering, unfocused songwriting, any landmarks that might leave an impression on first listens are effectively leveled out. It doesn’t really have an impact on a track like “Amphibian Rule”, which sticks out with its decidedly grittier feel and faster pace, as much as it does on slower cuts that don’t come with outstanding hooks in the first place. “Agharta” is one of the songs that have been around since the beginnings of the band’s presence in the public eye; compared to its early states, the track has been significantly mellowed out, its krautrock-ish jam section thrown out for a washed-out outro. While that is an understandable move on an album that is already dominated by lengthy instrumental passages (check closer “Cries & Whispers” and
Real Estate-inspired “That Was I” for the more engaging examples, “The Lethargy of Many” or first single “Amoeba” for the uneventful ones), the decision to cut a rare fit of temperament in a rather phlegmatic environment doesn’t exactly enhance the accessibility of the record.
In the end, this is where Oracles falter – on
Stanford Torus, the five-piece managed to set watermarks by placing alternating elements in the spotlight. On
Bedroom Eyes, where they try to exhibit restraint in terms of temper, some songs instead suffer from a misunderstanding between evoking reverie and losing focus. It is a rather apt occurrence that Oracles’s debut concludes with a low-pitched noise loop that might very well be the sound of a person snoring, considering the dreaminess of the 50 minutes that preceded it. Whether it represents relaxation or boredom –
Bedroom Eyes has potential for both – resides with the listener to decide; for someone inclined to spend time and attention though, this 50-minute journey may contain pleasant surprises.
