Title: On Shore Remain
Artist: Ofrin
Genre: Avantgarde Pop
Release Date: 24th October 2008
Label: Stamp Records
Album Review
Israel born Ofri Brin founded the band together with the musical all-round talent Oded K. Dar with whom she had worked in Israel already and in 2005 they debuted with ‘Rust & Velvet’. With numerous club appearances and a tour through Israel beginning of 2007, they established themselves as a real insider’s tip. The upcoming ‘On Shore Remain’ now is their second long player after the ‘Episode’ EP in 2007.
After I’ve completed the first spin of ‘On Shore Remain’ I thought “Well, that’s something different”. On MySpace it’s categorized as Pop and indeed it has poppy aspects, but then it differs too much from most of today’s pop music. The arrangements that barely leave the down-tempo area have a certain audible aesthetic. They barely dominate, rather they accentuate Ofri’s vocals that would fit perfectly to a smoky jazz club and yeah, spreads a little of this atmosphere, but now let’s start with the first song ‘Dry’, beginning with reluctant, alienated piano sounds until a muffled beat appears and together with the first vocals an acoustic guitar comes in. The song comes up with many aural surprises anyway and manages to constantly reveal new details and facets.
Continuing with ‘How Come’ slightly faster than the opener and the rhythmic company is more of a clicking. Pretty minimalist and something I’ve admittedly never heard as a rhythm before, but there are also sounds I can’t even find a name for, perhaps processed field recordings. Anyway, Ofri’s chant gives this song certain glamour. Never too obtrusive, but always the dominant part and she has a wonderful timbre I have to add; and further it goes with ‘Better By Far’ opening with a very complex passage of intertwined drum patterns, samples and piano glimpses. At times during the song you’re feeling like being pushed back into a Wild West saloon. Must be the special sound of the piano here and there, but right afterwards you’re in the Jazz club again to experience a playful electronic intermezzo.
The muffled beat returns on ‘Tango’ and first the lovely vocals fill up everything, but then intricate, percussion beat-work emerges out of the background with unusual rhythms, while the melancholic melodies remain in the background and first in the last part of the song, they give up their niche existence and fully come to the fore and unfold their true beauty. In contrast to this ‘Nothing comes to Mind’ gets by without any rhythmic company. We hear shimmering and piano lines if I’m not mistaken, hard to spot out this time. Along with these elements the song incorporates many field recordings, everyday noises mixed up with tender vocals. Very beautiful! Accentuated by pacey guitar chords she puts a charm on us again and when the mood is suddenly turning it’s tiny piano drops like pearls of morning dew, falling down on a crystal clear water surface creating a wonderful and unique mood which you can attest to the album closer ‘Castle’ as well, where dark stormy clouds gather up in the far distance to let a small ray of sunlight passing through just to close their gates again.. Apart from that there’s only the piano and Ofri guiding us to a moody end of this album.
Sometimes you’re wondering why various bands didn’t appear on your radar earlier, especially if it’s a band like OFRIN who obviously have lots of ideas and musical talents. Not only do they have a great singer, the music has a high artistic merit and deserves to be heard by a wider audience. Be sure to check out the tracks on the band’s MySpace profile.
Tracklist
01. Dry – 5:29
02. How come – 6:02
03. Better by far – 4:28
04. Tango – 3:27
05. Sam – 5:19
06. Nothing comes to mind – 2:53
07. Give it a shot – 7:37
08. In the water for too long – 5:03
09. Time for a decision – 4:20
10. Stories – 6:41
11. Castle – 4:21
Line-up
Ofri Brin
Oded K.Dar
Dirk Homuth
Sven Mühlbrandt
Marco Bruckdorfer
Susanne Ocklitz
Website
http://www.ofrin.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/ofrin
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 9
Extras: -
Total: 9
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