The double A-Side to last month’s surprise release Know Yourself, the new project from Tom Vek (sharp dressing hermit) and Olga Bell (Dirty Projectors) continues to produce some of the tightest, percussion laden electro-pop around at the minute.
Whereas the swamp synth lines and off-kilter drumming on Know Yourself could have been lifted straight from Vek’s next album (to be released: 2025), Oyster approaches things in a slightly different manner.
With the focus this time around firmly on Bell’s vocals, the chorus sees her take centre stage, bellowing a , whilst Vek’s electronics cave in on themselves. Noisily. The influence of a certain reviled type of dance music are obvious: if the duo cranked up the bass during the chorus and emphasised the saw sounds, you could probably soundtrack a shitty Internet Explorer advert.
It’s a good job then that they didn’t, instead crafting two slices of top quality synth-pop. Fans of FOE and Bell’s old collaborators Chairlift will dig this to no end.
Hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more of them in the near future, but for now you can pick up the tracks on vinyl/download via Moshi Moshi, or stream Oyster and personal preference Know Yourself below.
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