3 out of 5

Label: Monitor Records

Produced by: Oxes (engineered by)

I’m a big post-rock instrumental fan.  I mean, I’m picky with it, but it’s always a genre I’m happy to listen to a new band’s take on it.  Oxes’ two-guitar, one-drum setup, funny song names, and notable live presence definitely made themselves known to my post-rock instrumental fandom tastes, and I was eager to give ’em a listen.  Their self-titled debut absolutely didn’t disappoint – deconstructed melodies of a vague U.S. Maple taint, combined with the kind of freakouts Don Cab had somewhat left behind by that point – but it also didn’t necessarily excite; I’d put it on and dig it, and bob my head, but wouldn’t necessarily seek it out.

Oxes live show was known for the group’s rather confrontational presentation: they’d stand on a mini-platform (higher than the stage itself) and stare down members of the audience; wireless guitars allowed them to get up close and personal and make people uncomfortable as they roamed the crowd; their drummer might pause at a point and jabber like an insane person.  The off-kilter performance informed the kind of music they played – stop-start rhythms, extended chugga chuggas – and easily made the show the kind of thing you’d remember, even if the music wasn’t your bag.  Watching (rare) youtube clips of this era of Oxes is interesting, as the music itself doesn’t translate.  You just had to be there.

And so, perhaps fittingly, this carries over to Oxes the album somewhat.

Each track exists as its own entity to a certain degree, allowing for marveling at the way the drums clatter during a pause or smiling when each guitar picks up the pounding rhythm, but it starts all over again with the next track, not really building as a full listening experience.  The songs still feel calculated for their performance effect.  This is further driven home by some odd codas that feel tacked on as attempted linking material, but only end up dismissing any song-to-song flow even moreso.

Which isn’t to say Oxes doesn’t rock, as it for sure does.  And there are some great moments when they really start to vibe and let the track grow – Horses are OK being a prime example – but there’s definitely room for the trio to figure out how they want to better translate their stage notoriety to something with a longer lasting impact when played through headphones.