MY OCTOPUS MIND - NO WAY OUTTA HERE ALIVE


 

My Octopus Mind’s new single ‘No Way Outta Here Alive’ lyrically conjures the claustrophobic oppression of 21C hive dreaming. The music provides rewarding insights into the honeycomb complexities of our age of microgenres. They tread a pathway limned by the passionate neo-prog of The Mars Volta and black midi that winds between the math complexity of fellow Bristoleans Ogives Big Band and the monomaniacal post-rock heft of Hey Colossus.

There are similar reflections on the discontents of civilization in the vein of Radiohead and Queens of the Stone Age as MOM’s 2020 single ‘The Great Escape’, balanced with a humour that owes something to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. There’s less of the Balkan rhythms and chamber rock flavours prevalent on their last full-length album Faulty at Source but they retain that release’s heavy psychedelic edge and Mars voltage. His axe suitably amplified and channeled through an effects arsenal, upright bass player Isaac Ellis summons enough force to rival any pick-wielding electric pulse meister. Guitarist/lead vocalist Liam O’Connell conjures minor modal threat with a pithy solo and drummer Oliver Cocup unleashes and deconstructs ferocious grooves with A-bomb a-plomb.

This single bears fruit My Octopus Mind have been cultivating since the acoustic power trio prog folk origins of their 2015 debut EP release The GasWorks. The freak folk elements of their 2019 album Maladyne Cave were offset with the post-punk abrasion of ‘Welder’ and the noise funk of ‘Mocha Narwhal’. The desire to transcend a dehumanizing society is a key theme in their oeuvre. With ‘No Way Outta Here Alive’ they marry a weary outlook with experimental rock of invention and wit that can’t help but challenge any sense of resignation. Out now through Halfmeltedbrain Records.

Available on Bandcamp via this link:

https://halfmeltedbrainrecords.bandcamp.com/track/no-way-outta-here-alive

TEXT: (C) Copyright 2022 by Jon Kromka 


Band Photo: (C) by Barbora Cetlova

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