Oh Hiroshima is back in action.
Led by the Swedish duo Jakob Hemström (guitar/bass/vocals) and Oskar Nilsson (drums/percussion), the band signed to Pelagic Records is now releasing its sixth album, And The Dead Tree Gives No Shelter.
The band has also enlisted numerous musicians, whether for keyboards, synthesizers, double bass, trombone, vocals, violins…
We enter this sixth chapter with the gentle Servant of All, an opening track that starts off rather ethereal before suddenly adopting a heavier, more saturated sound and incorporating soaring vocal parts as well, letting its rhythm section explode from time to time. Waves of calm and aggression follow one another naturally, while offering numerous dissonant effects that lead us peacefully to Meridian, the second track, where we quickly sense that the atmosphere is initially much heavier, more aggressive, and more jerky, but it will prove to us that it can still remain quite gentle without neglecting its catchy side. The soothing vocals resurface on Angelos, a track featuring two vocalists over a particularly gentle foundation that gradually builds in intensity while carefully preserving its intoxicating quality, before transitioning into Skeleton Key, which radically shifts in tone and becomes more menacing. The sound is also heavier, groovier, and thicker, but strangely enough, it quickly gives way to Tree of Life” a track reminiscent of the title track that offers a luminous and melancholic progression before a perfectly intoxicating finale that suddenly releases us into the warm Broken Sunlight and its rich Stoner/Heavy Psychedelic touches. We quickly feel overwhelmed by this ethereal sound before the rhythm section brings us back to more jagged sections, which are themselves quickly filled with floating harmonics before Ivory Tower returns to a more haunting and focused minimalism. The track is certainly very stripped-down, but it remains no less intense, readily incorporating strings in the finale before Exit Cloud, the much darker and heavier, yet also far more rhythmic and energetic final track which gradually transforms into organized chaos that fully erupts in the final, then leaves us in the grip of emptiness.
Oh Hiroshima is a band that, ever since I discovered them over ten years ago, has never ceased to fascinate me, even though their music is far removed from my usual tastes. And yet, And The Dead Tree Gives No Shelter gives me the same chills as its predecessors, creating a unique cocoon where you feel so at home that you never want to leave, thanks to its rich variety.
90/100