Oas, Joe

I may have overdone it with this one. I'm always out here preaching that you gotta give an album 20-30 listens before you really know it, or at least know it well enough to be able to properly review it on a VERY IMPORTANT BLOG. But, ya know, maybe that's too many for some albums. Oas seems like maybe the kind of album that can be thoroughly wrung out after a dozen listens, tops. 30 is too many. I listened to it too many times. What started as a really pleasant low-key pop album turned sour after needless repetition. It's not a matter of finding hidden depth, it's more admitting that there really isn't any depth to find.

The foreign-language aspect did a lot in terms of convincing me there was more here than there actually was. Listening to Swedish as an English speaker means that I'll never really get the full intended effect, and that's okay, it comes with the territory. But then you plug in some of the lyrics to a translator and it looks even worse, which is at least half because translating is a finer art than just plugging shit into a google machine, but also half because old-school lounge-y pop music like this doesn't really require poetic words to carry the day. It just sounds nice and pleasant, that's all. Nothing more than that.

I liked the "Fleetwood Mac, Khruangbin, Motown" description that the band gives of itself. Not that it's accurate, but it definitely gets to the heart of was Dina Ögon is going for. It's mystical like Khruangbin was a few weeks ago, but its machinations are way more precise, built for efficiency like the best Motown records were. As for the "Fleetwood Mac" descriptor, I don't hear it, but I think it's smart to throw in an artist like that, since that seems to be the consensus for your "Average Music Listener's Favorite Band (Based on Rumours Alone Probably)," and so it makes sense to try to draw people in by just saying an instantly-recognizable artist.

For the record, they probably should have replaced Fleetwood Mac with Gal Costa. Even though the hemispheres are completely different, both Costa and Dina Ögon manage to maintain an airy, relaxing, but intriguing sound through non-English psych-pop. I feel the same way that I felt after listening to that album 120 weeks ago—at ease and mostly satisfied, but also slightly unfulfilled. I also will push for the inclusion of "Pumpan" when the fourth Austin Powers movie inevitably drops. But, like, okay, I'm also acknowledging that Dina Ögon would be stupid to publicize the fact that they "sound like Gal Costa," since the only people who know who Gal Costa is are the true Tropicália heads and also a small select group of friends who are crazy enough to try to review an album every week for 20 years.

There are no bad songs on Oas. Not a single fucking one. If in the year 2027 I randomly hear "År" somewhere out in the wild (or, more likely, my iPod on shuffle), I will think, "Wow, that was a nice album." I just have this weird feeling right now, in the present moment, that I need something more from it but that something is what it cannot provide. And I can't explain what that thing is, is the thing. More power? Eh, not every album has to rock hard (can't all be Tool). More variety? All of this is cool psych pop but Dina Ögon does more than enough to mix it up on a song-by-song basis (e.g. the buoyancy of the title track leading into the heavy stomp of "Mellan slagen"). More hooks? Nah, every song is catchy. More what, then?

More... I sincerely don't know. Something that makes it stand out. I am contemplating now as to whether this album was designed to not stand out. That it's pleasant on purpose, even if it's pleasant to a fault, that maybe a band that forms in 2020 and existed entirely post-COVID and feels the need to address some overarching anxiety by playing some nice relaxing tunes is gonna not worry too much about getting artsy by inspiring any complex, unpleasant emotions. It's all VIBES is what of course I'm circling here, fucking vibes, god I still hate describing music like that, but sometimes it just fucking fits, man, I can't help it. I'm like those narc dogs at the airport—I'm not purposefully trying to ruin your day by sniffing your drugs, it's just my natural instinct. I'm not trying to tear Dina Ögon down by accusing it of being a VIBES band, but it just smells funny, and I'm just a brainless beast sniffing at shit and barking when I come across something that I've been trained to find. FUCK YOUR VIBES, DINA ÖGON!

But also, good job, Dina Ögon, because it's a nice album. I'm just missing something. And I went way too long trying to find it. Maybe just give me a warning next time. Declare your vibes at the gate instead of trying to smuggle 'em in.

GRADE: 3 pukes out of 5