Review: EASTGHOST – Omniscient, They

STYLSS, short for Stop Taking Your Life So Seriously, is a Portland-based record label and musical collective that specialises in heady, abstract electronic music. Though their roster spans all over the world, their contributing artists are pretty consistent in their surreal and experimental approach to electronic music styles ranging from UK bass to instrumental hip-hop to future garage to electro-trap. Among the more notable faces in STYLSS’ catalogue is Portlander EASTGHOST, an electronic experimentalist and beat-crafter that’s been releasing singles and EPs for a handful of years now. March 2015 marks the release of his full-length debut Omniscient, They, which may very well be one of the most disorienting, mind-fucking, yet immaculately-assembled and compelling records you’ll hear all year.

Omniscient, They is an electronic music album, but one that’s incredibly difficult to label as any one thing more specific than that. All over this album you’ll get detailed ambient soundscapes, numbing minimal techno, snappy and grooving hip-hop-influenced beats a la Purity Ring, glitch, downtempo, as well as a bit of noise here and there. There’s also something about the punchiest tracks on this album like the opener and the title track that remind me of experimental trap producers like Blank Banshee, with their heavy sub-bass and skull-cracking snare hits. However, although a handful of tracks on here are incredibly hard-hitting with their beats, I wouldn’t go into Omniscient, They with the mindset that you’re going to be rocked into submission, because EASTGHOST is extremely mindful when it comes to pacing and tension-building, which leads to a lot of consummately textured ambient sections and interludes that, at a moment’s notice, will stop and make way for new textures and soundscapes, keeping these songs consistently engaging from beginning to end.

If there’s anything that EASTGHOST excels at on this LP, it’s taking various sounds and manipulating and integrating them in ways that feel not only fitting and natural, but hypnotic and otherworldly at the same time. The track “Out of my hands”, for instance, is loaded with these whisper-quiet vocal samples that play throughout the majority of the track, that are layered over each other and sectioned into different channel placements in such a way where the finished product sounds equal parts haunting and ethereal. The track “Flint Hills” sees EASTGHOST toying with soft side-chained kicks atop this warped and crackling acoustic guitar-led instrumental. With that said, there are too many different subtly-implemented textural divergences to be able to pick up all of them on a first, second, or even tenth listen. You’re doing yourself no favours just listening to this album on some shitty Apple earbuds or muddy laptop speakers. Sell one of your kidneys, buy the most expensive pair of over-ear headphones you can buy, and then listen to this album on an endless loop. You’ll be left with so many amazing vibes that you’ll forget all about your loss of a major organ.

Due to its constantly changing sound-play and non-traditional song structures, I wouldn’t call Omniscient, They an accessible album. Because of EASTGHOST’s willingness to experiment with these songs and take them in seemingly any direction without warning, it may turn off those who want a more easy-going and friendly electronic music album. But even among this modern sea of bedroom producers getting brandished with the fashionable “future beats” label, Omniscient, They feels extremely forward-thinking and singular, not just like it’s simply taking a played-out formula and executing it using non-standard sounds, then selling itself as something game-changing. This is an album that I think should be turning electronic music haters into electronic music obsessives.

I’ll be perfectly blunt about this one: I love this album. I’ve probably listened to Omniscient, They more than any other album released so far this year. My only complaints about this album are small nitpicks, like the short length of the spellbinding “Flint Hills” and the slow-to-start title track. Aside from those minor complaints, this album manages to floor me with each repeated listen. While I can’t guarantee that this album will appeal to music listeners from every walk of life, those with enough patience to make it through the first few listens will likely be similarly enamoured by the next-level ambition and creativity on this record. I think this is an album very deserving of transcending its regional barriers, getting plays and love from music listeners from all over the world. If you consider yourself a fan of progressive and resourceful music, check out EASTGHOST’s latest and greatest. It’ll leave you with rivulets of something shameful running down your thighs.

Your friend,
Jess Casebeer