Baths: Obsidian

- Obsidian is the second full length for Will Wisenfeld under the Baths moniker. Following on from a bunch of random items since the release of his breakthrough, Cerulean. If you know it you'll recognise Obsidian's blend of maximalist electronica occasionally,ducking its head down beat. Opener Worsening mixes that familiar flavour with some much darker contrasts and acts as the gateway to Wisenfeld's new headspace, a recurring theme on this record, dealing as it does with a near death experience last year thanks to an ongoing bout with E.coli and coming out as openly gay, he obviously has a lot to talk about and this record is that voice. One of the noticeable developments is that Wisenfeld never seems to want to shut up: he's obviously got a lot to say and this diminishes the potential of tracks such as Lovely Bloodflow, Halls or Maximalist. Their bedrock of vocal loops and phrases repeated as hooks are sadly osbcured. The piano in Ironworks is a welcome addition to the record which, up until this point, hasn't really peaked but rather just puttered along. Then comes Incompatible which is quite the lyrical complexity, obviously dealing with Wisenfeld's sexuality and its frustrations, illustrated perfectly by lines such as "Come and fuck me!" All and all a confronting track, especially for Baths. The latter part of Obsidian is where it shines: Earth Death is a crunching track that has a huge drum sound working in collaboration with a dirty bass synth and some rather bleak lyrics ruminating on death. No Past Lives has the potential to own the whole album with a piano riff cutting in and out at the oddest places, and, on the whole, feeling like an upbeat electronic interpretation of Sigur Ros, with strings and a droned-out riff, all of which builds to a an inevitable vocal peak. It is a track that reaches from the old Baths to the new and is the best chance to extend an olive-branch to existing fans, who may be on the fence at this point. Wisenfed's brush with death at the tender age of 24 has definitely stained his music, but if you think this is dark electronica a-la of Xiu Xiu or Prurient than you are a bit off. It still has a very strong pop sensibility to it. In fact the album isn't as much of a leap as suggested by every single person talking about it. Obsidian isn't a bad record or necessarily a good one, in my opinion. With Wisenfeld's stellar number Hall currently sitting at #4 most played out of the 7919 songs on my iTunes, I suppose I was hoping this record would deliver me more of the same. It does feel like a record I might grow into, but at this point it seems a mere footnote in comparison to the instant likeability of Cerulean. - Brad Armstrong.