As a music critic, one issue that I’ve had with contemporary electronic music has been with artists, particularly those in the underground, who overload their music with so many different dimensions of texture that, as listeners, we don’t know where to focus our attention the most – however, ooberfuse’s new extended play Call My Name doesn’t face this growing problem. Ooberfuse are an experimental pop/electronic/alternative outfit from the United Kingdom, and their latest release is indeed comprised of elements from multiple genres; but, even with that being the case, there’s no overindulgence to be skimmed over in this brand-new tracklist. Actually, Call My Name’s five remixes of its title track are some of the tightest and sleekest modern pop songs that I’ve listened to in a really long time.
FACEBOOK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNJbwJmKH6k
Paul Kennedy and Patrik Kambo both contributed radio edits of “Call My Name” to this record, and they each employed minimalist-inspired approaches in doing so. Kennedy’s mix was used for the music video for the song, but it could have just as easily been replaced with Kambo’s because of the synthesizer-centered stylizations that were utilized in the creation of both tracks. The grandiosity is within the music itself, and if even one of the instrumental elements in either track would have been any more potent than they already are, I don’t think that the end result would have been as well-received by critics and fans as they have been in this instance. Ooberfuse definitely know who to bring into the studio with them, and I hope that Call My Name doesn’t mark the last time that they work with both Kennedy and Kambo.
My first viewing of the music video for “Call My Name” didn’t leave me feeling all that impressed with the actual shots so much as it did the way they’re so perfectly timed with the beats and the flow of the song in the background. As with the record that it takes its name from, overindulgence is nowhere to be found in this video; in fact, there’s such a barren minimalism to the color scheme in the shots that some of the more energized imagery doesn’t have the same affect that it would have had with a more polished pop filtration. It’s a great piece of work nevertheless and, frankly, rather cleansing after taking in some of the over the top content that ooberfuse’s American counterparts are issuing this summer.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Call-Name-Paul-Kennedy-Radio/dp/B07T196ZXK
I really enjoyed what I heard in ooberfuse’s amazing single “Come to Me,” the 2018 track that garnered them a lot of attention in my corner of the planet, but I have fallen in love with their sound all over again in Call My Name. The mechanical concerns that they were facing at the beginning of their career have been reduced, if not completely quashed, and while they’ve got a different tone than they did when they started off in 2014 with an early/radio edited version of the hit single “Fall,” I think that they’re finally sounding like a completely unified duo for the first time here. My honest opinion is that this is a milestone among their melodic pop efforts for sure, and probably only the first in a series of exciting new songs.
Zachary Rush