A voice that twirls like a kite, Radiohead mixed with post-rock, a touch of trip hop and a good dose of experimentation: these are the elements that make up an O’Brother album. The whole could have been comforting, but it’s the apocalypse we hear approaching instead. It’s the race to our bunker, where a straitjacket awaits us. And a choice to make: wear it or ignore it? It’s staring at us, demanding that we put it on.
With our minds now doubly walled off, we can’t escape our fate. The depressive and languid “Slipping” feels like it’s packed with broken glass, crystalline and sharp. Dangerous, so no sudden moves. “What We’ve Lost” is of the same nature, with its anxious lyrics, “When the walls close in / you’ll take me into your final hours / after the wilting flowers / when your thoughts close in / will you remember what we lost? ”. Other songs also evoke loss of control, with titles such as “Killing Spree”, “Black Tide” and “Spill on the Carpet”. On “Leave Me Out”, a lover announces their departure, and the scene seems to go on and on. You and I: a terribly efficient, fearsome record that crushes us to the ground and makes us capitulate to the forces of nature.
