Thee Oh Sees – Help

Thee Oh Sees - Help

John Dwyer, the main creative force behind Thee Oh Sees, and the innumerable variations of their name, has been in quite a few bands, of which the most noteworthy are probably Coachwhips, Pink And Brown and The Hospitals. Thee Oh Sees/The Ohsees/OCS originally started as a way for Dwyer to release his home recordings they’ve slowly evolved into a proper band and, by all accounts, his most serious, straight-forward work and the main focus of his energies at present.

Like the aformentioned Coachwhips Thee Oh Sees draw heavily on ’60s psych and garage rock influences, along the lines of the Nuggets box set, but they also lean towards the poppier end of that decade at times: ‘Meat Step Lively’ and ‘A Flag In The Court’ in particular bring to mind The Kinks, The Small Faces, The Zombies et al. On their facebook page it says, and I quote, “We don’t sound like The B-52′s, stop saying that!”, and while Dwyer’s clipped vocals occasionally remind one of Fred Schneider, it’s safe to say Thee Oh Sees are definitely more indebted to bands like The 13th Floor Elevators than anyone else.

Reading that one might be inclined to think that Help sounds a bit generic, that it wears its influences a bit too brazenly on its sleeves. And you’d be right… sort of. Certainly when listened to all the way through the album can start to sound a bit samey in places – by the time of the mid-order tracks ‘Rainbow’ and ‘Go Meet The Seed’ you may start to wonder if all the songs need to have the lead vocals need to be drenched in reverb, whether the backing vocals have to sound so similar (both the aformentioned tracks feature fairly banal “ba ba ba”s, courtesy of Brigid Dawson), whether the fuzzy guitar tone couldn’t perhaps be varied just a little bit more.

However, when not taken as a whole, Help really is quite an enjoyable listen. Storming opener ‘Enemy Destruct’ proves why the production is as reverb-heavy and lo-fi as it is, as it’s gnawing, droney riff sounds absolutely great. The immensely distorted, slightly out-of-tune guitar and the thrashy solo buried in the mix give it a really dirty, immediate feel and thus make it a standout opening track. It also demonstrates that the album hits its very best moments when, instead of going for straightforward ’60s garage pop tributes, it takes things for a darker turn, the comedown after the high. ‘Can You See?’ takes the vocal line from Can’s ‘Mushroom’ and wraps it around a menacing chord sequence, with the backing vocals floating ominously in the background, while ‘Destroyed Fortress Reappears’ is a powerhouse of twisted riffs and urgent vocals. Some of the less generic lighter offerings do help to provide a balance, though: ‘Ruby Go Home’ and ‘Soda St. #1′ are both energetic, bouncy numbers that are probably the nearest things to dancey tracks on here, even though both are treated to the trademark fuzzy production.

The debate about how far bands can borrow from their influences has raged for some time, and is never one that is likely to be settled. Clearly Thee Oh Sees are on the side of the argument that states that borrowing from the classics is no great problem – Garage Rock as a genre isn’t known for it’s rigorous forward-thinking, after all. But that doesn’t mean that a band can’t show glimpses of originality, when needed, and, most importantly, be damned good fun whilst also rocking hard.  A decidedly flawed, mixed bag album, but the good pretty decisively outweighs the bad.

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