Oak St Assembly - let's call it untitled ep EP

Oak St Assembly

let's call it untitled ep EP
self-released; 2015

3.2 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Oak St Assembly is the combined efforts of Evan Brown (guitar), Koby Leff (bass) and Josiah Harmar (drums/keys). Their recent release let's call it untitled ep is a mixed effort with some things that worked and other things that fell a little bit flat. This is a lo-fi release that emphasizes the lo-fi. It’s extremely lo-fi and on occasion that does work to their advantage.

The one thing that could have been improved is the timing. Some of the songs are noticeably off-time and not in a cool U.S. Maple kind of way.

The highlight of the EP is “Hurricane Sandy.” I enjoyed the vocal delivery, lyrics and music. The music is loose and scattered but works. This also happens to be a song where the lo-fi elements worked to their advantage. The vocals sound top notch as well. Great stuff.

Some of the other songs have things that work but need some tweaking. “Learning Curves” is a catchy song but has a hard time reaching the peaks it tries to conquer during the chorus. A lot of it has to do with the dynamics and super lo-fi drum sound.

“Ashbourne CC” has some really engaging vocal harmonies that combine with a dirty bass. I wished the band built off that but instead the vocal harmonies are replaced by a kind of rapping that reminded me of the ‘90s band Cake.  The band reinforces that vibe with “#apocalypsefarm” which also revives the spirit of The Bloodhound Gang. There's something slightly humorous about the song even though I couldn't always make out the lyrics.

I have to a say a boost in recording quality would have helped out some of these songs. Hopefully, next time around the band can befriend an engineer or work in a studio. Overall, I dig the vibe these guys are putting out but it just needs a bit of work here and there.

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