- Ose, a London-based producer and musician, is also known as Ewan Fisher of Standard Planets, an electronic and experimental rock band that's collaborated with people as diverse as krautrocker Harald Grosskopf, psychogeography writer Iain Sinclair and Nurse With Wound's Colin Potter. On his second solo EP as Ose, Fisher has a sometimes intriguing approach to techno informed by his musical travels.
You get a sense of that immediately, as "The Theft Of Cultured Bulbs" opens with what sounds like a live drummer's kick and the swell of Vangelis-style synths. But it doesn't get going until what could be a muted and delayed electric guitar kicks in. Likewise, there's another winning element in the sonically-rich standout track "Seat Thyself Sultanically," an ear-catching sound akin to steel ball bearings rolling around a glass. It combines with tape hiss and subaquatic synths to make a total banger that gradually heats up and crescendos with splashes of acid. But Fisher's basslines sometimes fail. They can slip into new romantic synth pop, like on "The Theft Of Cultured Bulbs," or krautrock slapping on the title track. They work best when they're minimal and almost completely submerged, as on "Seat Thyself Sultanically" and "Sacré Noir." Each track has something to admire about it, but perhaps Fisher needs to take another step away from the band mentality.
TracklistA1 The Theft Of Cultured Bulbs
A2 Seat Thyself Sultanically
B1 Sacre Noir
B2 Siberian Mirror