O'SUMMER VACATION - Wicked Heart LP (Red Vinyl)

Label: Damnably

In a similar reaction to the first time I heard label-mates Otoboke Beaver, I sat bolt upright, shocked and thrilled in equal measure at the opening track of o’ summer vacation’s new album Wicked Heart. The Kobe-based trio of Mikiiii on bass, Ami on vocals and Manu on drums have created a compulsive and frenetic riot of tracks that judder and swirl like a vortex of broken concrete shards; a vortex that feels like it will spin out of control but never does. The members of o’ summer vacation play in a symbiotic way, with taught co-dependency and it’s as if they have wired themselves together so that when neurons are fired by one band member the other two respond in milliseconds. Their playing is part-telepathy, part-empathy, and all in. A world of controlled chaos.

As with the ‘choose life’ maxim of Trainspotting this is life plugged into the mains; an edifying reminder that sometimes we need to feel as alive as a skydiver and Wicked Heart is that leap out into the blue so picture me packing my parachute because I’m ready to jump again.