Paul, you think right.
The biography of Paul Oska claims that he was in a band with a member of Maximo Park over ten years ago but over the past decade he has given up interest in music. After listening to Maximo Parks second album that is an accusation that may also be levelled at the unnamed Maximo boy but all humour aside, there appears to be no similarity between the two sets of music.
‘I Think I’m Dead’, as the title possibly suggests is immediately dark and carries on in that vein. Paul Oska’s vocals aren’t going to blow you over with their breakneck speed but they are the sorts that are going to burrow away at you and remind you of every other croaky throated frontman who has ever taken a walk down a dusty road and survived to tell the tale. Yes, Paul Oska is a traditional artist who tells stories and tales over instrumentation styles that have stood the test of time and never go out of fashion.
At times to good to listen to it on a digital player as with a glance you can see what number is playing and you can quickly tell if there has been a change of song, which is handy because its hard to tell otherwise. Yes, the music on show here is extremely consistent and theres very little that changes and it all gets very one paced and un-memorable by the end.
It will stand out from so much of the other music that is being played nowadays so it initially comes as a refreshing change but after that initial feeling, the impression of a one-paced and one trick album is impossible to lodge from your memory.
The centrepiece of the album is the title track, a ten minute plus opus that has the same whispered hush vocal approach over the jabbing backing music. Its like the rest of the songs but longer, the droning instrumentation gives it an edge but its not something you’re going to come back to repeatedly. At around the five minute mark it rustles itself into life and it immediately becomes the strongpoint of the record but you do feel it’s too little, too late.
Perhaps in an effort to prove himself so different from past peers, Paul Oska has created an album that wears its heart on its sleeve but forgets to accessorise with melodies or memorable sections. Its strong, its consistent and its going to be tailor-made for a target market, its just a shame that it doesn’t do anything to draw attention to itself.