sample:
Amputee

Small and simple, that's the way things are supposed to be these days. Right? Look at, say, 'Is This It' or 'I Get Wet' or, to go to the absolute extreme, the Winnebago Deal elpee. Models of economy, the lot of them, and all considerably acer than ramblefests like 'Drukqs' or 'St Anger'. Why, even Mogwai are going for the short'n'sweet approach these days, and that was never meant to happen. D'you think anyone's pointed any of this out to Oceansize? Cos it sure as hell doesn't look like it...

Mind you, we've spent a good couple of years now waiting for the Mancunian quintet to try to transfer their perenially incandescent live performances into a full-length album, and we can hardly blame them for attempting to fit so many ideas onto the one record, particularly when they appear to have got it so satisfyingly right. May's SOTW-snaffling 'One Day All This Will Be Yours' was a corking opening salvo, a blankly cruel maelstrom so linear it made Six By Seven sound like they had attention deficit disorder, but it's far from the only burst of brilliance they conjure in this sevebty-five minute selection. Sure, it's audacious - how many lenghty instrumental passages? - and, whisper it, occasionally a fraction on the prog side, but, mercifully, there's not an ounce of flab on 'Effloresce'. Instead, it's a series of well-judged sorties somewhere stratospheric, whether that's via the route of duelling guitars and incrementally buzzing bass on the gloriously-titled 'Women Who Love Men Who Love Drugs', the wild 'Cherub Rock'-esque thrashings of the nigh-on-unfeasibly epic 'Massive Bereavement' or the beautiful Satie stylings of 'Unravel'. In lots of ways it feels like post-rock taken to its logical conclusion (as opposed to the sadly uninspired conclusions that a lot of the post-'Lab/'Gwai/Tortoise opportunists drew far too swiftly), toying with structures and defying established categorisation, but it always keeps one eye on straightforward rock convention, looking to draw in the unsuspecting listener at all times. 'Saturday Morning Breakfast Show', possibly the best track here, if very unlikely to receive Saturday morning or indeed breakfast broadcast anywhere, ultimately spirals into a thrilling heads-down metal whump, and 'Long Forgotten' is a string-drenched delight, while 'Rinsed', perhaps a little more unexpectedly, treads a similar lambent path to Underworld's masterful 'Tongue'. Loving your record collections, gentlemen!

Of course, it's still somewhat a somewhat flawed outing; now and again Mike sounds like he's spent a little too long listening to Mike Patton's back catalogue (mind you, haven't we all?), while lyrically there's precious little that stands out and they've yet to discover the commercial edge of, say, Muse. But none of these are exactly overwhelming concerns given the sheer boldness and quality they've summoned up. Oceansize are diving for pearls and, on 'Effloresce', they're nearing the jackpot.

Iain Moffat

reviewed on 03 Oct 2003