Ought - More Than Any Other Day

Ought
More Than Any Other Day
29 April 2014
Constellation

4.5 stars out of 5

 

Montréal’s Ought bring their post-punk noise out of the lofts of the Mile End and into the earbuds of the world with their debut LP, More Than Any Other Day. Its self-referential lyrics frequently break the fourth wall between band and audience, delivered by guitarist/vocalist Tim Beeler in an often frantic mode à la David Byrne. “Clever” is an appropriate adjective for both lyrics and music here; luckily, any negative connotations that might come along with such an adjective (elitist, cold, etc) are negated by the welcoming warmth of the performance and the sense of collectiveness felt throughout.

Tracks like “Today More Than Any Other Day” and “The Weather Song” pull the audience into the performance and the performers into the audience. The almost interactive nature of these songs is unexpected and exciting, adding a new layer to an already onion-like work of art. Miller does his best Tom Verlaine impersonation on “Forgiveness,” a stripped-down piece featuring drummer Tim Keen taking a turn on violin. “Clarity!” plays with our nostalgia for a bit, feeling at the beginning that it’s going to break into “Love Will Tear Us Apart” but never getting there, instead diverting down a road strewn with the strange wreckage of twisted rock ‘n’ roll and burned-out post-punk carapaces. If I ever meet the dudes in Ought, I’m going to ask them if “Gemini” was the result of listening to Kitchens of Distinction non-stop for several days, because that’s my suspicion.

While Ought may be hyper-aware of their influences on More Than Any Other Day, this awareness isn’t extrapolated into simple imitation; rather, it’s pulled apart, fully analysed, and then reconfigured into something fresh and unique, something that stands successfully on its own without requiring an encyclopedic knowledge of the genre to appreciate it. An incredibly accomplished and confident debut.

reviewed by Richard Krueger