Oneida’s ethereal feedback and synthesizer-laden rock album The Wedding could be played at one’s nuptials. I could see tracks like the mystical, baroque “Run Through My Hair,” being played during the wedding procession in A Midsummer Nights Dream; it would have to be a wedding involving fairies and sprites and possibly woodland nymphs. Maybe it would just have to involve Wiccans.
The prolific, Brooklyn-based quartet–singer/guitarist Papa Crazy, keyboardist Bobby Matador, drummer Kid Millions, and bassist Hanoi Jane–is best known for their explosive live shows (Kid Millions shines on stage). But as The Wedding shows, their recorded material can be just as riveting. In places the album sounds like Sophtware Slump-era Grandaddy, with the use of synths and Papa Crazy’s soft, lulling voice. There are moments of true lyrical beauty on The Wedding, particularly the descriptive lines from “Charlemagne,” about gray skies with a “chalk veneer.”
The Wedding, Oneida’s seventh album in about as many years, was released on the Bloomington, Indiana label Jagjaguwar on May 3rd. Oneida will play one show on May 7th in Brooklyn before heading out on a European tour. For more info on Oneida, visit www.enemyhogs.com.
