Buy Link: fanlink.to/TheOddnessExhale
Internal peace is challenging, a psychological puzzle promising enlightenment to those who achieve it. On the upcoming second full-length LP from Australia’s The Oddness, titled ’Observations as a Stranger’, the producer use organic beats and 3D house to explore themes of sympathy, salvation, and the machinations of what it means to be human.
Serving as Beat & Path’s third full-length album, the release could not be better timed. It’s hard not to connect these tumultuous times with the LP’s central themes of rebirth. Nowhere is that more evident than the cleansing first single ‘Exhale’ which features the emotionally pressed vocals of Anita Musca. Included with the original are three interpretations from scene veteran Namito, Germany’s Luca Musto, and an elastic disco-inspired remix from Bobby Featherdale.
On the original, a warm bassline rides a resolute 4/4 rhythm and a flittering guitar riff. There is ample space for Anita Musca’s vocals to come alive, inviting us to ’Breathe. Don’t Leave. Don’t Stay’. The slight melodic rise accentuates her increasingly stressed tone. She is wrought with the pain of fighting yourself, caught between the lure of a new self and the grief of losing the old.
Iranian producer Namito rolls the original in a thick blanket of bass so study it can carry you in its arms. The original’s melancholic elements are accentuated through swathes of synths that feel almost translucent. The purging beat serves to add an extra layer of urgency to the process of recovery.
On the remix from self-proclaimed slow-house producer Luca Musto, we are given a playful respite. The rhythm is upbeat, and the melodic bubbles and slightly drunk FX only add to the general mischievous nature. Towards the end is a tasty surprise: unexpected violin stabs and soulful keys that will make you smile.
The sun is out for Bobby Featherdale’s disco take. If LCD Soundsytem and Nile Rodger’s had an acid-fuelled studio session, the result might be glorious indie-dance rhythms found here. The running bass appears so loose you almost need to put it in a strait-jacket. Musca’s vocals are given free reign while Featherdale’s production dances around it with a soulful groove that threatens to never let you go.
Release date: November 13th, 2020.