Osees - Intercepted Message

on Red and Blue Vinyl In December 2022, John Dwyer, the founder and leader of Osees (dating back to those carefree days when they were still called Thee Oh Sees), opened a recording studio in Los Angeles, Discount Mirrors. A look at their website shows the place has a nice collection of keyboards, both old and new. Perhaps spending some time with that bank of synthesizers inspired Dwyer, because the hard-edged punk-informed sound of Osees' 2022 release A Foul Form has given way to an edgy homage to synth pop on 2023's Intercepted Message. The cries, squeals, and bleeps of aging electronic keyboards dominate most of these songs, along with the angular melodies and lockstep rhythms that were common in early electronic pop of the late 1970s and early '80s. Q: Are We Not Men?-era Devo is clearly a touchstone here, both in terms of its embrace of cheap keyboards and its ranting about the unfortunate direction of the American mindset, as the abuses of social media, media overdrive, economic