If Dinosaur Jr. and My Bloody Valentine had made sweet, sweet love and produced a child, that child would be Ovlov. The overall production is dirty and lush, the guitars sound wobbly and drunk, and the vocals sound self-defeating and whiny as can be. This description may sound insulting, but believe that I mean it in the best way possible. The album starts off with very nasty, colorful-sounding feedback that almost immediately explodes into a rich, thick, and forward-moving guitar riff.
Am plays into the listener's ears in very a wholesome manner despite the fact that it is lacking in production refinement. In fact, the majority the band's free material sounds a bit more polished than their debut. This turned me off quite a bit when I first heard the album. After a few more listens I was able to see past this. It is safe to say that my unfavorable first impression was a fault of my own. Ovlov is about music. It is easy to tell that these guys are much more interested in writing and performing great songs over spending time in a studio. While this seems to work out quite well, there are a few moments where I found myself wishing they had cleaned up their sound just a tad. All in all,
Am is most definitely a proper debut. It is very unfortunate to me that Ovlov and other artists on Exploding In Sound have not received much attention. 9/10.
Favorite Tracks: Where's My Dini?, Really Bees, Moth Rock, The Great Alligator
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