Time Was, the third and most recent release by Lungfish frontman Asa Osborne’s solo project, Zomes, shifts and fades like a foggy sea. Its diverse sounds and melodies blend in and out of a crackling haze to create an achingly beautiful ocean of noise.
A little departure from Osborne’s more (purposefully) repetitive work, Zomes weaves many looping motifs throughout his songs. Overlapping and interaction result in an organic river of sound that is never the same, each layering a little different from the last.
Zomes employs a strange arsenal of sound: feedback-loaded guitars that ebb and flow in the background, padded organs and skeletal synths, along with Osborne’s trusty drum machine that pumps out sparse 808 snares and drum kicks and tribal bongos.
Floating above it all is Zomes’ newest member, Hanna Olivegren, whose mournful voice wails in both English and Swedish, navigating through the dense noise with powerful force. These components create an alien sound that adds to the overall melancholy of the album. Listeners can hear the pain exhibited, but the reasons for it are unknown and foreign. Zomes suffers through the problems in isolation.
“Monk Bag” is perhaps the most fascinating song of the album. It is anchored by a fuzzed-out guitar playing two tones on the background and accompanied by thumping industrial drums. Olivegren’s voice is twisted and modified at points throughout the song, her voice descending into digital warbles.
Perhaps the coolest moment is when Osborne expertly splices Olivegren’s voice with a screeching electric guitar, creating the illusion that she has surpassed human expression, her mournful cries growing into inhuman screams.
At times the music grows a little too abrasive or boring, but as a whole Time Was is a beautiful and fascinating album worth a listen.
Dive Verdict: ???1/2
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