Review: Weite ‘Oase’
Every now and then something will come along that you didn’t know you needed until you are caught up in the middle of it. For most, it’s the grudge of having to do something you don’t want to, only to find that once you are there, it’s actually exactly what you need.
This is especially true with children. Getting them mustered up to do an activity, only to say ‘I told you so’ an hour later which I’m sure is a very familiar outcome to many of my review readers.
The same can be said with adults too, I am fully aware that I fall perfectly into this category, and in my time, I have avoided a great many things, for the concern of it just not being something I would like to do.
The same can be said with my music tastes, specifically in aiming myself towards, or diverting away from, anything I don’t feel I will enjoy or gain anything from. Usually, I am not the biggest fan of prog or psychedelia, both tend to conjure up a few of my dad’s favourites that we used to get played when we were young.
As a youth, the likes of Genesis and Jethro Tull didn’t feature on my radar and when heavy music entered my life, those seemingly ridiculous bands were firmly filed in the ‘do not entertain’ section of my brain. As an adult, I have opened my horizons and embraced change. While I still love my loud obnoxious music (my mum’s words, not mine), I’ve also opened my heart to a greater variety of bands from all genres. Well, except for chart pop music, that’s the worst.
So, when given the challenge of reviewing the latest Weite album Oase, to say I was filled with a little apprehension is a fair assumption. On paper it’s not something I would pick up and embrace, quite the opposite in fact, but for the purposes of reviewing, I had taken the album on with a view to further widening those horizons.
Now, for me, it would be easy to pass Oase off as a heady mix of long, drawn out soundscapes, which, beyond being a great soundtrack for a stoner, or a dad’s dad, due to the hark back in sound to the seventies, could leave a casual listener cold.
But to pass this album off as merely some seventies throwback would serve as a massive injustice to Weite. A magical supergroup, including players from Elder and delving, this collaboration is a master class in quality and sonic voyeurism. Luxurious euphoric soaring highs are parallelled out accordingly, with lavish ambient passages. Think early Genesis for sure, but without the theatrics. Embrace the eclecticism and pageantry, without cheapening the whole experience.
soaring into the sonic stratosphere where it explodes into a crescendo of colour…
For me, the real beauty of this whole experience is just how easily you can fall into it. It isn’t abrasive or disjointed, it’s more a case of lush green hazes put to music. It’s that high you get as you are coming up from a smoke, and then just hanging there, suspended in a timeless ether with the entirety of space embracing you.
Yes, I could say this is merely seven instrumental tracks, skilfully crafted by a quintet of first-class musicians. I could cheapen the experience, but I really have no wish to. What I will say is that if you will allow yourself to be taken away on a journey, then this is your chance.
Right from the album opener, Versteinert, we are propelled into a realm far beyond our own. The mix of trippy guitar and low-key drum welcomes us to the party, and once the band are in full flight, the vision is serene. Spacy and vibrant, it sets the scene for the whole album, and by the final third of this track, the pace is absolutely soaring into the sonic stratosphere where it explodes into a crescendo of colour.
Track two, Time Will Paint Another Picture shows a more playful side to the band, where upbeat melody and intoxicating trance like passages truly show what the band is capable of, it’s magical. That being said, there is a darker side to the band too. For instance, on Woodbury Hollow the band wander down a moodier path. Although it is one of the shortest tracks on the album, it is in no way a lesser entity. With a spookier wind instrument overlay it really drops into a mythical Norse feel.
Elsewhere on the album, track six, Eigengrau seems to display lavish nods towards some seventies Americana, and for me personally, to early Neil Young. It brings something to the table, which is unheard of elsewhere, and fully encapsulates the band’s diverse scope.
This is especially true on album closer, The Slow Wave, which takes us on a more perilous journey. Very much a game of two halves, the first gives a serene, calm, easy breezy interlude, before the band drag us into the eye of the storm to see the remainder out.
For an album that I had hesitated on, I’m so glad I took the plunge because the reward has been a magical experience and one which has brightened my outlook forevermore.
Label: Stickman Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Lee Beamish
