Los Angeles producer and songwriter Will Wiesenfeld AKA Baths has continued to explore the morbid thematic elements from last year's fantastic album Obsidian with an EP of dark, intriguing pop experiments.
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If the catchy, cathartic lo-fi rhythms on Obsidian represent shades of dark blue or red, Ocean Death's sound can be described as near-complete desaturation. It's a dramatic, up-front acknowledgement of the existential emptiness that comes with knowledge of our mortality, which Wiesenfeld felt during his recent hospitalization. Without major outbursts or danceable frills to latch onto for distraction, we're left to confront the gentle darkness of what's out there.
The opening title track is a fairly abstract look into these morose thoughts. Pitch-shifted moans trudge along a path laid out by steady, heavyhanded beats that bind the song to the earth like its creator's mortal coil, while Wiesenfeld's trademark soaring vocals add layers of spacey oblivion.
The remaining tracks remind us that Baths is at its core a pop music project by placing their emphasis on an acoustic bassline and more regularly paced, recognizable drum samples. Following the chaotic opener, these feel like the lingering ideas one would continue to negotiate against the course of daily life right after snapping out of a train of negative thoughts. Like a troubled mind, Baths's songwriting on this EP sounds like it's had a lot of enthusiasm and creative energy drained from it, but in way that allows its core to shine through the darkness intact and beautiful in a different, softer way.
Ocean Death won't appeal to casual listening sensibilities Baths's "previous" or "work". However, the understated strength of his latest again shows that he has no shortage of deep ideas to inspire his musical ambition.
Favorite tracks: "Ocean Death", "Yawn"
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