The Oyster Murders
Mourning Birds EP
Independent
Spacy and mysterious sounds open this little EP with people singing backwards and making less sense than John Lennon on acid. Once that little piece of self-indulgence is done with this Aussie pop group launches into 4 tracks of dark and moody pop music that alternately thrills and annoys. Lead singer Grant Redgen mutters “We feed ourselves to the wolves” and you think: “If anyone could do it, it might well be this guy.”
There’s a dark shadow over his world, and it reappears in “Nobodies” where his sloshing guitar work cheers him up enough to notice his own departure was noticed by someone. Enigmatic? Certainly, but I just report what the singer sings. Vocal help arrives from his partner Wendy on “Oh Shadow Dark Crow Grow.” She’s got a bright and pop loving voice, but the sadness of the Oyster Murderers is still present even as her eye makeup runs down her cheek. I’d like to comfort her, but I suspect it would just bring me down as well. Feeling too happy today? This is your dream pop downer of an antidote and if you treat it like a sad movie and not the next step down in your life, you may just fall in love with a couple who loves to be sad.
