November 18th 2016 via Castle Face Records
6.5/10
An Odd Entrances is the eighteenth album by the Californian band and their second of 2016, following August’s A Weird Exits. It is impossible to describe An Odd Entrances without the context of A Weird Exits; the two albums, the first to be recorded with the new two drummer line up, were recorded during the same session and are undoubtedly companion pieces.
A Weird Exits took the bands trademark garage rock sound and gave it a more psychedelic, almost cosmic edge, all the while maintaining the energetic noise rock elements synonymous with Thee Oh Sees incredible live performances.
An Odd Entrances’ six tracks, three of which are instrumentals, take the sound from A Weird Exists and stretch it into several different genres expanding on themes that subtly inhabit the previous album.
Tracks like ‘The Poem’ seem an ode to sixties folk with a violin throughout and Tolkieneque lyrics, while ‘Jammed Exit’ is a continuation of A Weird Exits’ ‘Jammed Entrances’ sharing the same groove but adding an oddly well-fitting wayward flute to the mix of droning synths and metronomic drum and bassline.
The following track ‘At The End, On The Stairs’ is one of the odder tracks on the record sounding as though it wouldn’t be out of place on a sixties smooth jazz album, if it weren’t for the occasional psych rock guitar solo.
The next track ‘Unwrap the Fiend, Pt.1’ is a prelude to the A Weird Exits track ‘Unwrap the Fiend, Pt.2’ which, despite the confusion of releasing the prelude after the main track, is probably one of the best tracks on the album with a great drumming that highlights the fantastic rolling guitars.
The final track ‘Nervous Tech (Nah John)’ exemplifies the reason for having two drummers both of whom get to show their talent as noise driven guitars start and stop giving the track a sporadic, almost improvised feel.
It is hard to argue that An Odd Entrances is not an album of leftovers from the A Weird Exists session. While almost all the tracks individually are fantastic, the lack of consistency means there is no coherent message within the album, but that may be the point; the confusing track listing and even more incoherent album names gives this pair of albums a sense of disorganisation indicative of the bands sound.
While I doubt anyone would call An Odd Entrances the best album from the Californian rockers, for fans of Thee Oh Sees this is another good addition to their impressively consistent catalogue of albums.
