Oosterdok
Some Day We Will Part Forever EP
Brownhouse Records
This four-song, debut EP is like the soundtrack of Princess Diaries 3: Back to Squeaky Cleanville. Songwriter/producer Jay Line is the mastermind behind the effervescent beats that attempt to recreate the feeling of floating on a cloud. The problem is that after twenty minutes of floating, it’s time to get off the friggin’ cloud and try to actually do something. Line doesn’t attempt to push any boundaries at all. In fact, he actually brings the boundaries closer together, and still manages to stay comfortably between them.
It wouldn’t be so bad if the singer would do something, anything, to make the music livelier. All Becky Naylor does is stay comfortably within a 12-15 note range for twenty solid minutes. There are no dynamics and barely any tone in her voice at all. She may be classically-trained, but it sounds like she was given sheet music and she’s singing it for the first time. Her timidity, combined with Line’s lack of variance, makes for one boring EP.
The first track, “Bob’s Last Day,” is an attempt at making musical drama by tuning the song in a minor key. It would work if towards the end there was a heavier beat or some sort of climax, but there is none. The entire album is this way. It’s like they’re stuck in first gear, and are perfectly comfortable going 12 mph down the road. That’s great for them, but it pisses me off.
Oosterdok is just too British for me. Their music is like Portishead-lite, and they take absolutely no chances. The music goes nowhere. I understand that this is their first-ever recording, but they will have to start taking some chances if they are going to do anything on the musical map. After listening to these four songs a couple of times, I just want to get out of Pleasantville.
Oosterdok: http://www.oosterdok.com
