Album Review: oOoOO - Without Your Love

oOoOO
Without Your Love
Rating: Grrrr

San Francisco based producer oOoOO, otherwise known as Chris Dexter, emerged back in 2010 and was immediately lumped into the burgeoning "witch house/drag" scene along with acts like Salem and White Ring. Of course like most over-hyped micro-genres, witch house faded almost as quickly as it exploded, leaving a lot of associated artists either floundering, breaking up, or moving on to other things. oOoOO wisely used his earlier EPs as a springboard to morphing his sound into something less restrictive, embracing everything from ambient, downtempo, trap, experimental techno, to even adding vocals to his tracks. Without Your Love is a fairly dark journey, the viewpoint being that love is a tempestuous place, full of trials and pitfalls, and is barely worth the time and effort. This suite of tracks never feels too oppressive, however, allowing some moments of beauty and light within its haunted shadows.

Opening with the duo tracks "Sirens" and "Stay Here," Without Your Love gets off to a texturally rich start. Manipulated vocals flow in and out of atmospheric washes of synths and samples during "Sirens" before merging into the dark, cavernous beats and lonely vocals of "Stay Here."



Throughout Without Your Love, Dexter shows remarkable dexterity in his production style, tying all the strands together seamlessly without ever seeming heavy handed. Whether it is the DJ Screw-like beats of "The South,"



lonely electronica of "On It,"



or found sounds of "Crossed Wires," the album is a cohesive collection that never fails to impress.

While there is an always present darkness lurking within the shadows of the record, Dexter is not afraid to let a little light in on occasion, offering up some of his most breathtakingly beauty compositions. Title track "Without Your Love" showcases a lovely synth melody along with a heartbreakingly tender vocal,



while closing track "Across A Sea" is a melancholy piano led ballad that ends things on a somewhat hopeful note.



Initially, I kept my hopes low for this debut record, worrying that Dexter would stick to his former sound that had basically faded into obscurity. Thankfully he didn't tread water, building from his sound into something more poignant and moving. While Without Your Love is not going to be in the running for the most "up" record of the year, it is an amazingly produced record that is both intoxicating and challenging.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.