专辑简介

by Margaret RegesIf Between the Devil and the Sea tells us anything, it's that Oh No! Oh My! are still making their way through the awkward, gangly-legged puppy stages of band-dom. As of this release, they've gone through one name change (the scurvy maties were originally christened the "Jolly Rogers"), one independently released album, and a significant amount of stylistic tweaking. Their first album had a good dose of tweedy twee mingled with synthy indie pop (as if a Belle & Sebastian album had been raided and pillaged by the Magnetic Fields) and a helping of jangly, messy, handclappy pop, the kind that most folks associate with Sufjan Stevens. And if this little EP is any indication, it seems like they've decided that they'd like to stick with the latter sound and toss out the twee stuff altogether. The change suits them well for the most part, and tracks like "Our Mouths Are Wet" and "Party Punch" are built on the kind of bouncy, cartoony goodness that will have more than a few Neutral Milk Hotel and Stevens' fans tapping their toes. This is pretty standard fare as far as indie pop goes -- the band really doesn't deviate much from the stylistic quirks of the aforementioned artists -- but Oh No! Oh My! do the genre justice. This is a group of hook-driven, scribbly, smart, and fun songs. The production is clean, the nasal, somewhat goofy vocals are pleasantly bizarre, and the whole thing feels just about right. This is a fun romp, not to mention a promising one.