obLONG – EP 2

After EP 1,  obLONG decided to present an EP 2. As I see it, both EPs would make a perfect album together. For this second delivery, there’re also 5 tracks full of anger (or maybe that’s because I’m angry, not sure), stamina, and a female voice that would give wings to even the hardest heavy metal riff.

In this EP 2 there’s a mix of emotions that would take again a confused listener like me to the edge. This is the road to take:

The beginning is ‘I am the noise’, a way of blending through the noise, carefree. It’s just turning on your favorite track, careless of your surroundings; the world may fall apart, still you wouldn’t care until the track reaches the end, repeating endlessly ‘I am the noise’, ‘please listen to my story’. A solid bass line melted with drums will be the highlight. I must show my respect to the bassist, Hugh Ruiz, for this one.

After a little emotion and euphoria, the blue atmosphere would come in your road. ‘The Disappointment’ is your next track, the word must of us hate; it’s not the word, but what it represents. A heart-felt description in words and music of this feeling that would be a straight slap to wake up from the perfection we find in the excitement the first track built in our mind. It’s a rather interesting track considering the songs in EP 1: a band fighting against all odds, armed with a free soul transferred through their music, can also be massively disappointed, and there’s one track that would prove that to you. A calm, still fierce statement of one idea and feeling we’ve all experienced starting with a creative bass line, making the blue of this landscape.

There’s a trance going on, then we pass to ‘Deny’, the perfect middle of this road, where I would take a break; this track would also remind me a so CBGB’s jam, a bridge that would repeatedly lead to a endless maze, a kind of feeling built from confusion as to where to go, where the exit is lost, no escape at hand. Before one break, there’s this guitar effect, like the sound of a door closing. I like Steve Genn’s guitar stuff, he really knows how to make experiments and not get lost in the way. I love the atmosphere in this one!

Next, ‘Tick Tock’; this is the song that caught all of my attention and made me go for more from obLONG. A rather clumsy riff in the sense of tempo and notes chosen, like walking on a straight line and finding obstacles everywhere (reminds me of how it is to walk through the ‘paved‘ streets and traffic of Mexico City). The one straight line in this song is the lyrics and voice (Tracy Deakin) that I praise, so honest, transparent and able of conveying the greatest excitement, discontent, passion or sadness of all. A great catcher, a melody just about to take off.

The end (there’s always an end) is just a surprise (can’t find another word to describe it). A cover of Supertramp’s (the name reminds me of the time when at Sheffield I said ‘oh! And there’s a tramp!’, instead of ‘Tram’; sorry for that): ‘The Logical Song’; there’s certain magic imprinted in this cover, obLONG’s unmistakable watermark integrated by the mixture of their guitar style and Tracy Deakin’s voice. I must admit this was a long a time ago one of my favorite songs ever because of the lyrics (we all feel confused at times), so it was a nice surprise after all to find this cover included. By the end of the song, again something that would let us know it’s obLONG’s: a ‘what you think?’ As if this song was some kind of joke. What do I think? I dig it!

‘Gifted voice’, ‘stamina’, ‘honesty’, ‘I praise Hugh Ruiz and Tracy Deakin’ were the words I found as the best fit for this band, which already are the owners of a strong personality and sense of making good music, and that’s at times (or most of the times), the hardest task to fulfill when at a band.

After listening to these two EPs over and over again I’m convinced that I totally love this band, and that I pray to get the chance to see them live (relatively) soon (I hope, I believe). The message that I get is: just be free.

Words: Tonan

About the author: Tonan can be heard most Sundays at Anti-fama, a program dedicated to some of the best unknown (or lesser known) bands.

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