The Octopus Project - "Hello, Avalanche"

The Octopus Project - An Evening with Rthrtha (Peek-A-Boo 2007)

The Octopus Project – Hello, Avalanche / Peek-A-Boo

If there were ever an adjective to describe my particular style of writing, it would have to be, for better or worse, ‘hyperbolic’. It’s obviously not the best approach to critiquing, especially in today’s heavily over-saturated, nit-picking society of music reviewer readers, but honestly, I just can’t help it. Character flaws and personality trends typically drizzle down into creative endeavors, and for me, it’s getting immersed and over-excited especially when it comes to music.

I can still clearly remember listening to The Octopus Project for the first time, which in particular was their 2004 sophomore outing One Ten Hundred Thousand Million, and being completely awestruck. It was in early January, right after the musical void that is Christmas time, and perhaps my ears were just starved for something interesting, but the Austin, TX trio and their junkyard of exuberant instrumental pop completely bowled me over. The next few weeks included interviewing the up-swinging act awkwardly on my radio show (better believe the hyperbolic statements were flying during that airing), forcing anyone I could to listen to their album, and driving a couple hours to sad little hole of a venue in Spartanburg, SC to experience their sadly ill-attended live show (they opened for Peelander-Z if I remember correctly). Like their music, I was excitable, and The Octopus Project was a fun band to put on a pedestal.

Well it’s been three years, and we have both somewhat grown up; The Octopus Project obviously a little more than I have, especially career-wise. Their non-stop touring schedule, which has included opening for everyone from Trail of Dead to Aesop Rock and coveted festival gigs like Coachella, SXSW, Noise Pop and Wall of Sound, an animated and recommended collaboration with Pittsburgh psyche-poppers Black Moth Super Rainbow called The House of Apples and Eyeballs, and numerous accolades from the media have boosted the trio’s momentum exponentially just in time for their third official full-length, Hello, Avalanche. Now it’s all up to the eight-armed experiment to deliver the goods to substantiate the hype.

With their now respected reputation in hand, the husband-wife duo of Josh and Yvonne Lambert and percussionist Toto Miranda had the chance to record their new album with all the bells and whistles of a high-end studio, but decided to not completely abandon the self-producing approach that got them to this point (not to mention, if there was ever a sound that the noise-pop band was NOT lacking, it was that of bells and whistles). Teaming with producer Ryan Hadlock (Blonde Redhead, The Gossip), the trio headed to Seattle with a suitcase full of analog-recorded demos to use as a foundation to further develop their blossoming sound.

Hello, Avalanche does not overtly differ than its 2004 predecessor: easily digestible hooks swing with caffeinated ferocity, Miranda’s arena-sized drum breaks do constant battle with a barrage of seemingly half-working drum machines, 8-bit synth lines provide opposition for Josh Lambert’s noisy electric guitar crunch, and Yvonne Lambert’s candy-coated Theremin remains as a pleasing visual and audible relief from the barrage of sound continuously cascading and colliding. It is experimental pop music that though challenging in theory, is as accessible and infectious as they come. For the most part, the trio attacks a song by establishing a groove and then layering, expanding and inflating until it bursts in a fanatical explosion of pop melodies. It is simply fun; a characteristic overlooked by a lot of bands these days.

One telling but maybe not as obvious comparison is how similar The Octopus Project’s grooves are to some of the more electronic Radiohead concoctions. The intro of “Mmaj” for example pairs a slightly off-beat and distorted drum machine with delicately atmospheric electronic wisps, which I could easily hear Thom Yorke cooing over, though the OP instead decides to layer with a four-four dancefloor-ready deep-bass stomp and fractured synth cries. “I Saw Bright Shinies” also opens with a melodic keyboard loop and MPC patter not at all far from Yorke’s The Eraser, but again, they skew it in a completely different direction; this time pairing ghostly Theremin overdubs with almost Arthur Russell-like electropop. And just for comparison sake, Josh Lambert’s stadium-sized guitar riff on “Exploding Snowhorse” could easily find its way into an OK Computer climax. Obviously, The Octopus Project and Radiohead are on two completely different planes of music, but they share a similar rhythmelodic aesthetic, and that makes for an interesting and unlikely comparison.

So am I going to use the same ecstatic hyperbole to describe Hello, Avalanche as I did when reviewing One Ten Hundred Thousand Million back in my college radio days? No. This is a completely different time and place, and The Octopus Project’s sound is not nearly as surprising as it was then. Does this make Hello, Avalanche any less of an enjoyable album though? Absolutely not. The Austin trio are as exuberant, entrancing and entertaining as they have ever been, but I do believe this album will be more revered by first-time listeners of the band than already devoted followers.