Exploded View
Obey
Release Date: Sep 28, 2018
Genre(s): Pop/Rock
Record label: Sacred Bones
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Buy Obey from Amazon
Album Review: Obey by Exploded View
Very Good, Based on 6 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
On Exploded View's self-titled debut, the band's stream-of-consciousness post-punk drew a significant part of its impact from its live recording process, which emphasized the album's dreamlike flow and surprising tangents. The band -- now the trio of Annika Henderson, Hugo Quezada, and Martin Thulin -- brings a little more order to the proceedings on Obey. The trio tracked the album in a more traditional fashion at Thulin and Quezada's Mexico City studio, but fortunately, the more controlled environment doesn't diminish Exploded View's evocative power at all.
Based on rating 8/10
As an introduction to Obey, the modern chamber sway and incidental sounds that make-up Lullaby are calming but not comforting, an air of foreboding delivered with serenity. It's a striking juxtaposition that's revisited for the often light and vibrant selection of cuts developed for Obey, the newest album from Exploded View. The work of vocalist Annika Henderson and producers Hugo Quezada and Martin Thulin, Obey captivates, rendered well via acoustic instrumentation (Open Road) and expansive, circuit-bred soundscapes (Obey).
Based on rating 7/10
This improvisational four-piece has given way to a slightly less improvisational three-piece, now reduced to Berliner and bandleader Annika Henderson and her two Mexico City bandmates, keyboardist Hugo Quezada and multi-instrumentalist/producer Martin Thulin. Exploded View have taken the captivating and raw synth-psychedelia of 2016's eponymous debut and added certain refinements; most notably setting aside the live/improv approach for structured and deliberate songs captured in a more traditional studio setting (Thulin and Quezada's studio in Mexico City). It serves the group well.
Based on rating 7/10
When film critic Manny Farber coined the phrase "termite art," he wasn't referring to artists like Exploded View. A trained painter with a taste for American genre film, Farber exalted small works that emphasized careful particularity rather than "overripe technique shrieking with precocity, fame, ambition." If the French New Wave was too elaborate for him, imagine what he would have thought of a globetrotting trio of improvisatory art-rockers. Despite appearances, however, Exploded View are devoted termite artists. Their best tracks ….
Based on rating 6.5/10
The music of Berlin/Mexico City group Exploded View is lush and evocative with an air of dystopia that spans everything from post-punk and goth to industrial and new-wave with ease. It possesses a sense of danger with an adventurous spirit running through it: released two years ago, their Exploded View was a collection of songs that were recorded in a single take. The "warts and all" approach is risky but fun and it also shows how much confidence a band has in its craft.
Based on rating 6/10
The band's self-titled 2016 debut acted as a confident initial release. Consisting of Anika, and Mexican producers, Martin Thulin, Hugo Quezada and Amon Melgarejo the group successfully stripped back the trappings of Anika's solo work and doubled down on their unique ethereal sound to modest critical acclaim. Enter 2018's Obey, an album on which the band downsize to a three-piece whilst, in turn, preserving their unique sound.
'Obey'
is available now