Listening to OOFJ makes me want to slip into a silk paisley dressing gown, light up a pipe and watch some burlesque. And in this, ‘I Forgive You’, the third single from this eclectic duo, they introduce a sense of epic foreboding into the sensuous delight, accentuated by a prowling, insistent bass drone that installs a fear I haven’t felt since watching Blue Velvet for the first time. There is indeed something very Lynchian about this band.
Katherine Mills-Rymer’s voice is like a set of crystal chandeliers: beautiful, bright and clear and yet so terribly dangerous when broken. Ominously repeating ‘I forgive you, like I’m supposed to’ in a manner so threatening I get jumpy at outside noises. Mills-Rymer manages to seduce and repel at the same time with a range greater than the Andes, while Jenno Bjørnkjær’s instrumentation builds up the sense of dread to a mind-blowing crescendo. This is a brilliantly constructed haunted cathedral of a song:
https://soundcloud.com/rtamusic-la/oofj-i-forgive-you-1?si=1690753aa5444b26ba76b6b179ace0d8&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
I confess to having waxed lyrical about OOFJ’s previous two singles, and even had a chat with them about their musical influences. Obsessed? Moi? Anyway, I certainly look forward with great anticipation to their forthcoming album, Acute Feast. I just hope my heart and tender sensibilities can take it.
