Review: Oh Hiroshima ‘All Things Shining’
The effects of music on the brain and why it can cause such a passionate response is a question that has been around almost as long as the medium itself. From philosophical or spiritual ruminations concluding that it must be the work of malign spirits or give the ability to channel the divine, to scientists speculating the triggering of neurological sensations resulting in dopamine hits that elicit a sensory reaction as powerful as a drug to produce an altered state of mind. You can argue back and forth on the merits of a piece of music, but you can’t deny that when you connect with a song or album, it is a rush like nothing else can produce.
Despite dramatic shifts in their lineup, Sweden’s understated, smouldering post-rock outfit Oh Hiroshima have always understood this concept during their 15-year career. Founded in 2007 by guitarist and drummer Leif Eliasson, he was joined by Jakob Hemström (guitars and vocals) who also brought his younger brother Oskar Nilsson to fill the drum stool for their debut album Resistance Is Futile (2011). Striking a chord with their dense and slow-burning atmospherics, the band would add Simon Axelsson on bass for their 2015 follow-up In Silence We Yearn which proved to be the band’s breakout record, earning them a loyal fanbase and reissues for both albums on Napalm Records.
Despite this success, Eliason departed in 2018, but that would not stop Oh Hiroshima from going on to craft Oscillation in 2019 before Axelsson would also exit the ranks leaving the two brothers to adapt to life as a duo, something which did not dent their confidence as they went on to release 2022’s critically acclaimed Myriad, cementing the production skills and songwriting craft that fans of the band have come to adore.
Mixing elements of shoegaze, electronica, post-punk and danceable indie-rock, the band has blended additional instruments to add depth and layers to a sound that, on the surface, can appear melancholic and subdued, but also scale great highlights of euphoria as they look to create something hopeful and life-affirming as they strive to push the boundaries of their sonic palette.
Their fifth album, All Things Shining, kickstarts their latest journey with the band’s most insistent and urgent work to date as the sounds of Wild Iris ring out with the powerful guitar work of Hemström and the deep, pulsing drums of Nilsson. Glancing off each other in an angular and sweeping air, creating a panoramic thunder that manages to bristle with a hard edge, but soar with intricate majesty. Over the swirling bombast and dizzying lead notes Hemström’s vocals, mournful and tender against the tumultuous backdrop, strike an engaging contrast. The sparse use of his voice amid such sonic density means that when they boil it down to the repeated mantra, intoned against the rapid-fire drums of ‘It’s been way too long since lightning struck right through you’, the words resonate right into your soul.
The bright guitar and dexterous hi-hat work of Holiness Moment continue this relationship with the echoing sombre vocals as the real beauty of the music emerges. Notes appear and flee like sonar pips against the grinding drone of the bass. The rise and fall of the second track feels more moody and downbeat, the longing introspection augmented by the serenity of the backing vocals which almost float by like a gentle exhalation of breath.
Oh Hiroshima deal in the cinematic and the philosophical through a rich tapestry of the minimalistic and the orchestral to create timeless pieces of emotional art…
Swans In A Field features a rippling piano over the nagging beat, like something intangible and just out of reach. As the circling guitar builds, rising and falling like so much of the album, they excel at producing a growing sense of gravity and lament lying at the heart of the album as the narration searches for purpose. The quiet-to-loud dynamics swell with synth and blissful vocal harmonies buried under the surface, whilst on Secret Youth they inject more urgent drumming back into the groove as they glide into indie light noodling.
Here, more so than any other track, Oh Hiroshima do a great job of capturing that ethereal drifting lullaby feel that Yawning Sons created so delightfully on their Ceremony To The Sunset album as they carve out a post-rock landscape which balances the darker edge that creeps in with the euphoric heights they are capable of scaling.
This meandering exploration continues on Rite Of Passage as the winding lead work gently flows with the plodding, yet creative drumming. When the vocals and the heavier moments come in, the brothers form a perfect balance between the instrumentalisation, complementing rather than intruding on the atmosphere they create. Deluge by comparison seems light and whimsical with fleeting notes that come and go until the breakdown leaves just the drums and vocals and that sinister dread resurfaces. When they bring all this together for the climax, it articulates the complex battle of themes the band are trying to wrestle with.
Leave Us Behind is the heaviest track on the album, crashing with a post-metal thickness and returning to moments of melodic restraint that recall Cult of Luna at their most expansive as they crank the tension, building towards frantic soloing and thumping drums of the ending, opening the door for the powerful coda of Memorabilia to leave a lasting impression as All Things Shining comes to a close with off-kilter percussion and whispered vocals. The musical journey once again takes a turn as jarring sounds clash with the beauty and Oh Hiroshima add more layers of swirling otherworldly sensations.
If you are a fan of slow-burning, progressive-leaning, post-rock/metal and a regular follower of Pelagic Records artists and releases, it should be no surprise to hear that All Things Shining fits into their ethos like a glove. Oh Hiroshima deal in the cinematic and the philosophical through a rich tapestry of the minimalistic and the orchestral to create timeless pieces of emotional art, for me the two brothers have absolutely delivered here.
Label: Pelagic Records
Band Links: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Twitter | Instagram
Scribed by: Mark Hunt-Bryden
