OU

The only way to describe this is "intense", as they have taken the heart of Meshuggah and then brutalised it yet somehow also bring in some pop tendencies here and there. Wu has a lovely clear voice which provides a great top end contrast to the heavy bottom, while she can sometimes be singing clear, almost twee, melodies over the top of music which is jagged, shifting and highly complex. Vanacore obviously has more than the requisite number of arms and legs, and he must be exhausted at the end of a performance as he never stops shifting the attack, never taking a rest. The keyboards are an important part of the album, providing the melodic link between the rhythm section, guitar and vocals, yet sadly I do not know who provided them here, yet it is the contrast between the attack and the vocals which really makes this stand out. In many ways it is of little surprise that Townsend agreed to be involved with the production and mixing as it is taking his vision as a base and then moving on from that.

Overall this is a fascinating prog metal release which mixes in many influences, although not the Chinese folk one may expect, and the result is something which is incredibly heavy at times, pop at others, all brought together with interesting vocals. Well worth investigating further.

The band consists of three Chinese performers: Lynn Wu (vocals), Zhang Jing (guitar) and Chris Cui (bass) along with the American born Anthony Vanacore (drums) who now resides in the land of great walls and pandas. I had a hard time finding a place to sample the band's debut album that came out in 2022 and sort of forgot about them that is until it was recently announced in 2024 that a sophomore release is due and now that this band has gotten established on a larger world's stage, it seems that it has become a bit easier to keep up with thanks to the band's association with longtime progressive metal extraordinaire Devin Townsend who shares record labels and sits in as the co-producer and mixing man as well as making a cameo on the track" 淨化 Purge."

Asian pop is a strange thing to behold to Western ears. While European and American female singers often come on strong with a masculinized delivery system, J-pop, K-pop and the latest Chinese version offer soft, sensual and even an innocently cuddly tenderness that has all but been lost in Western Culture. Add those twee tendencies to a raging progressive metal djent stomp storm and you have something new to behold! Lyrics in Mandarin Chinese make it even stranger as few of us of non-Chinese descent have even studied much less mastered this polar opposite of a language to anything remotely connected to European linguistics. An endless supply of multi-stroked characters and words differentiated only by tones strikes terror into our hearts knowing if we simply utter a word with the wrong intonation that it can change an innocent phrase like "Have a nice day" to "I want to have sex with your dog."

But then again, China has been mysterious for far too long and it's about time this most populations nation of the entire planet presents to the world at large some of its exports. Forget the avant-garde freakery for the moment and realize this is fairly commercial sounding. It's melodic, it's catchy, it's cute. It's family friendly because even if lead singer Lynn Wu is singing about hacking up a dead carcass you'd never know! 蘇醒 II: Frailty owes a lot to Townsend's presence as he's most famous for his production skills and wall of sound layering effects that have propelled him to the top ranks of the modern world of progressive metal. The album indeed benefits from a sleek sheen of sound that allows OU to weave its weird mix of slinking keyboard runs into the metal aspects that accompany.

While coming off as Chinese pop with a metallic edge, the progressive elements are clear and distinguished often sounding like some of those Japanese math rock girl bands without the jittery caffeinated nervousness. Offering a smoother procession through the album's nine tracks, the knottiness results from the chord sequences, time signature deviations and oft contrapuntal weirdness that results from the vocals, keyboards and guitar parts existing in different planes of existence. Yet somehow it all comes together to craft an elegant if not unorthodox delivery system of strangely seductive progressive pop metal which never ever once finds Wu tempted into breaking into death metal growls! As alluring as an estrogen fueled siren beckoning your devoted affection, Wu casts a spell with her girlish vocal charm.

In the end this is as much a Townsend endeavor as it is one of OU. The production techniques are right out of the dreamy ambient playbook that albums like "Ghost" and "Devlab" delivered in the previous decades however the band is not without its merits. Their progressive power pop melds quite nicely with Townsend's production excesses which gives the entire project a strange air of exoticism which is actually quite rare in the world of music these days given that we've been subjected to almost every culture's traditional sounds in one way or another. In the end this one is accessible enough that the pop hooks are instantly endearing and weird enough that it scratches my itch for something quirky and out of the ordinary. Likewise the tracks all differ from one another significantly to make this album sound endearing to the very end. While the metal elements are not ubiquitous, they provide enough of a backbone to qualify as the predominant, well at least the loudest element on board.

While i missed the debut i'm quite enthralled with this sophomore album. Honestly i've never been the biggest Townsend fan but OU seems to keep him from overdoing too much of a good thing. The album feels well balanced and stands out like a sore thumb in the world of modern progressive metal which seems to have primarily shifted into the realms of dissonant death metal fusing with modern classical or similar extreme metal hybrids. Another entry on the resume of Heavy Devvy and one that resonates with me much more than much of his own canon where he seems to overindulge by compensating rather ordinary sounding material with overwrought bloated production values. Here we get a real band that seems to be enhanced by Townsend's endeavors rather than being dragged down. Metal purists will hate this as the metal is demoted to an accent piece on some tracks and other like the the closing "念 Recall" feature no metallic traces at all. More enticing than Babymetal as well as more complex. Intricate and interestingly designed. OU is unlike anything i've heard before.

Imagine a collaboration between Enya and Enigma, and Leprous and Liquid Tension Experiment. Now don't, because that still won't work as those bands all have quite Western sounds. So imagine that collaboration by similar artists with a more Eastern sound. Got it? Probably not, and even if you have, it's still unlikely to sound like China's OU, who have just been signed to InsideOut and are sure to make a big impact with their original blend of sounds and styles, moods and textures. I've been listening to this for a while, and even though I like all the individual ingredients that make up this glorious mix, the idiosyncratic result is so unlike anything else I've heard that I'm sometimes unsure how much I like it. And yet, I'm fairly certain One will absolutely be one of my favourite releases of this year. How much others may like it is perhaps down to how much effort they are willing to put in, as I would guess that OU's music will not always be an easy listen for many Western ears.

When people talk about atonality and dissonance, it is generally based upon what they are used to hearing. Much Eastern music can sound atonal and dissonant to Western ears, and compounded with djenty polyrhythms and sudden bouts of syncopation, a lot of One might simply sound foreign (bad pun intended) initially. But for those willing to take them on, OU pack a lot of punch, and One is a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable debut. The idea of mixing pop and metal elements is not a new one - particularly, it seems, in Scandinavia (I am a great fan of 22, Maraton and VOLA, for instance) - but I've never heard them blended quite as OU have. There seem to be influences from dream pop, shoegaze, trip hop, ambient, indie rock, prog metal, jazz and djent; and elements of all these pop up in some fashion throughout the album. If OU's new label-mates Leprous and Haken are not influences, I'd be surprised, but I'm guessing there's also influence from bands like Radiohead, Portishead and Massive Attack, for example - and probably a few Chinese bands and artists I've never heard of.

I suspect there is a concept to the album, but as I have no idea of what is being sung, I can only guess. Based upon the album's title, and the fact that there are four pairs of song titles that could be considered complementary, it might be that One dwells upon the idea of duality and yin-yang: the Chinese philosophical concept whereby two apparently contrary forces may actually be complementary, and the change and difference between them creates one mutual whole of interdependence and interconnectivity. Interestingly, the relationship between yin and yang is often described in terms of the Travel of the Sun across the sky, over a Mountain and a valley. Yin is the Dark area shadowed by the mountain, while yang is the Light area. This travel of the Sun reveals what was in shadow (the Ghost) and obscures (Farewell) what was revealed. Am I reading too much into the titles? Quite possibly, and especially as I can't fit Euphoria and Prejudice into that analogy. But ultimately, there is no need to understand what is being sung to enjoy this album.

Opening number, Travel 穿 sets out the stall nicely with its frenetic and heavy instrumentation, and ethereal and emotive vocals. Any melody in this song is carried almost completely by Lynn Wu's voice, as electronica swirls beneath and between the chugging mass of intense instrumentation. The distinction between vocals and instruments is even more obvious on the following song, Farewell 夔, which manages to sound paradoxically both lighter and heavier than the preceding track. Lynn has some particularly strong vocals and quirky melody lines on this song, and the music is at times reminiscent of the blend of jazz and math rock plied by Alarmist. Mountain 山 sounds ready made to be a single, upbeat and poppy - albeit in a very staccato and syncopated fashion. And, what do you know, upon looking for a video on YouTube, I discovered that Mountain 山 is indeed a single.

Ghost 灵 is pretty much exactly as you might expect it to sound: wispy, light and barely there. The vocals are slight and fragile, showing a side to Lynn's voice that she has not previously shown. It's a short and sombre piece, but undeniably beautiful, followed by Euphoria 兴, which is one of my favourite songs, building upon the ambience of Ghost 灵, but having more power in its performance (even in its quieter second half). Paired with Prejudice 豸 (but only if my guess about the pairings is correct, of course), euphoria might initially seem to have not much that one might consider complementary to prejudice. But, Chinese characters can often have multiple translations that are only evident in context, so without knowing the lyrics, it is hard to know exactly whether 'Euphoria' is the most apt translation. 兴 can also translate, I think, as 'prosperity' - which certainly could be looked at with prejudice in regard to dualism and yin-yang. Prejudice 豸 is certainly as heavy as Euphoria 兴 is light. Lynn really belts out her vocals on this one, and shows just how much power she has. And it's another favourite song for me, largely because of Lynn's vocals.

I feel like I am somewhat unfairly singling out Lynn, because there is no doubting how much the other band members add to the mix. But realistically, it is Lynn's vocals that provide so much of the enjoyment I have from listening to One. As varied as the underlying instrumentation is, Lynn's vocals are more varied still, and I love just how versatile she is. She reminds me a little of vocalists like Peter Hammill, Demetrio Stratos, and Claudio Milano - not because Lynn sounds anything like any of them (because she does not), but just because her vocal idiosyncrasies are so integral and important to the overall sound of OU. For sure, every member of OU performs like demons, showing some monster talent, but as great as the music is (and it is great), I keep coming back to Lynn's voice. That said, Dark 暗 easily has some of my most favourite instrumental passages, and is probably my overall favourite song on the album. Dark 暗 definitely, to my mind, shows all of OU performing at their best, and pulling out all the stops.

After Dark 暗, Light 光 is almost necessary to come down from the preceding aural treat. It's a perfect complement to its predecessor, and a perfect way to end the album. My only complaint, really, is that the album is simply too short. I long to hear more, not that I know how OU could have kept it up, as the second pair of songs is more impressive than the first, the third pair of songs more impressive than the second, and the fourth pair of songs more impressive than the third. It would be impossible to carry on like that for too much longer, I guess. Alternatively, it could have been deliberate to stop at eight. As I learnt when reviewing Nodo Gordiano's H.E.X., in the I Ching, yin and yang are represented by broken and solid lines, which are then combined to make eight trigrams. But really, I have to reiterate that I'm only guessing here, and ultimately it makes no difference to just what an incredible debut album this is from OU. Don't judge it by the singles, because neither is entirely representative of the album's sound, and out of context of the album I simply don't think they work so well. This is an album that needs to be listened to from beginning to end, to appreciate just how well the songs work together and build upon each other. Just as with yin and yang, the mutual whole is greater than the individual parts.