When it comes to the dual release of one rocked-up and one chilled-out album, Springsteen, Smashing Pumpkins and Nelly got it all wrong. According to San Franciscan garage oddballs Thee Oh Sees, the first one, August’s A Weird Exits, should be a psychedelic cross between Cradle Of Filth, Can and the MC5 that sounds like an evil blues-metal imp auditioning for Decca in 1962. And the second, An Odd Entrances, should resemble a stoned Syd Barrett having a jazz jam in a jacuzzi.
It’s par for the course for a cult band who’ve swapped names and line-ups like Apple swap T&Cs, and whose 2013 “indefinite hiatus” lasted all of two days, but rarely has there been such a disparity in quality between sister releases. A Weird Exits was a compelling psych-garage clatter, whereas here, only the whimsical, string-laden The Poem, the gentle Merseybeat At The End, On The Stairs and the half of You Will Find It Here that’s more Astronomy Domine than drum rolls and Clanger chat are worthy of attention.
All flutes and bubbles, A Jammed Exit could be a Jethro Tull B-side, and only dedicated lovers of the eight-minute free-form scree solo need apply to Nervous Tech (Nah John), which is essentially Frank Zappa having a fit. Run for the exits.
