Words by Simon Russell-White.
The consistency continues with The Omnific set to release their latest offering on May 10th entitled ‘The Mind’s Eye’. The Melbourne trio certainly don’t waste time in giving their diehard fans continual amounts of masterful tunes to bask and bath in. This 6 track E.P. was carefully produced by the one and only Forrester Savell and The Omnific themselves, both bass guitars were engineered by Toby Peterson-Stewart and the drums were engineered by Forrester Savell and Luke Palmer (Dead Letter Circus) all famous for their crisp production work, the delivery on The Mind’s Eye is truly on point!
Opener The Stoic creeps in with a subtle programmed section before snapping in with the first major bass guitar drop. Matt Fack and Toby Peterson – Stuart flirt with the listener with gentle notation then to only melt the listeners ear tunnels with a mathematical entourage of sharp and precise bass fury. Controlling the horse and carriage is drummer Jerome Lematua he countlessly locks in with Fack and Peterson – Stuart which only adds to the beauty of this track.
Though later tracks send one on a straight up journey, Khimaira adds a feeling of light headedness, the track actually speaks and to be honest is a total trip! Technical on all fronts Khimaira slowly builds on that technicality and features a dual bass piece later on that made me rewind the track quite a few times, as a music fan of over 30 years I for one have never experienced such a set of notes joined like that, it’s mind blowing stuff.
Third track The Lifeless Charm gives a sense of slight chaos from the get go, it continues with a flurry of locked in double kick rhythm from the trio. Proving the writing and production mastery is the panning of each bass guitar from left to right in an early section, I’ve told you about it and now you need to pay close attention to it when this E.P. is in your trusty little skin mittens! The Lifeless Charm also features some moving programming that sits so well with mathematics of beat and slap bass. Some of the sections in this track demand major amounts of attention so be sure to give it.
It was mentioned earlier and now it’s time to go on that journey, Moonstruck is the soundtrack and prepare to be entranced. You best settle in and close your eyes for this one as it is a calmer yet captivating track that single-handedly creates its own mood. The slow build on this track really gives ‘The Mind’s Eye’ solid amounts of depth, to put it simple, this trio knows how to paint a picture with their instruments.
It’s no secret and The Omnific fans know that having two bass players makes it possible to layer pieces over each other but how these fellas manage to do it with such precision and pure good taste is beyond me. Track five Final Tree renders so many examples of three humans working as one unit and solidifies that music is truly evolving!
The first taste we were given from ‘The Mind’s Eye’ was closer Erin, its session style beginning carefully delves into a beautiful tone filled track, a fitting end to what can only be described as a sample of where instrumental music is heading. Again the trio have managed to paint a picture with their selection of moody programming and choices to slowly bringing this E.P. to an end and Erin does it perfectly.
Be sure to give ‘The Mind’s Eye’ the time it deserves, if you don’t you’re missing out. Simply breathtaking.
Pre Order The Mind’s Eye here: