Record Review - Thee Oh Sees: Warm Slime

Thee Oh Sees follow their 2009 masterpiece Help with a spacious, avant-garage album that focuses on hammering out long bouts of hypnotic repetition. As John Dwyer counts down to a wall of fuzzed-out melody and distortion swimming in reverb, the group is firing on all cylinders for sure. But when the smoke clears, the rugged vocal interplay between Dwyer’s Muppet-like barks and drummer/organist Brigid Dawson’s sweet yelps is more defined than ever, fleshing out what has only been hinted at in the group’s dynamic. “I Was Denied” and “Flash Bats” are stripped-down numbers, capturing the shape of the group’s live performances. But pound for pound there aren’t a lot of memorable moments here, which makes the brilliant return to form in “Mega-Feast” and “MT Work” a strong closing. Warm Slime is a solid album, and even though it doesn’t match the immediacy or catchiness of its predecessor, it’s a grower not a show-er. 3 out of 5 stars.