Formed in Austen Texas in the late 90’s The Octopus Project specializes in electronic heavy, highly danceable rock music that has featured Theremin on more than one occasion. With a pretty high BPM ratio supported by programmed drums and an actual drummer, they work within the ever-growing space between rave culture and rock and roll.
From the first bars of 'Hexadecagon' opener, 'Fuguefat', it’s easy to spot The Octopus Project’s formula. The band takes terse melodic lines and layers them one on top of another, building a song out of these interlocking melodic structures. Repetition is their bread and butter. At times the band can seem like a group of skilled mathematicians, adding and subtracting segments of melody in order to get the sum total of each song. Unfortunately for the band, math can begin to bore once you’ve come to understand it’s magic.
'Fuguefat', is actually a good example of where The Octopus Project’s succeeds. A catch electronic piano figure starts the song, riding a basic programmed drum track, and is doubled in on itself before it’s joined by supporting guitar and base lines. Slight variations of these initial figures continue for approximately two minutes, and just as the lack of progression becomes irritating the band explodes the song, introducing a cacophony of live drums and bringing the guitar to the front of the mix. Here, the band seems conscious of their formula, willing to lull the listener into a slight malaise only to upset their expectations. Like the jump from the rote arithmetic of elementary school to the complexities of middle-school algebra, the band seems capable of expanding their known equations.
'Korakrit', the second song on the album, works to invert the band’s particular formula as well. The melodic lines are slowed down and there is a sweeping, unhurried quality introduced by the guitar. The bridge of the song is a sparse affair, scaling back the melody and dropping most of the instruments from the mix. Moments like this help to highlight the ways in which The Octopus Project may have as much in common with minimalist composers such as Terry Riley as they do modern dance music.
Unfortunately, much of the second half of Hexadecagon falls into a trap seemingly set by the band themselves. They reach a plateau of momentum in songs like Toneloop and Glassjungle, their songs kicking up a steady workable beat, the melodies reminiscent of each other but certainly distinct to recognize the transition from song to song. The Project seems to have gotten stuck at the black board, obsessing over a particular form of algebraic equation, never moving on to Calculus and the way new mathematical concepts can give purpose to already familiar equations.
Overall the album is consistent, but like the band’s formula this consistency can be the band’s undoing. They have mastered a specific sound, but seem unwilling to take risks with the mastery they’ve developed.
It’s hard not to wonder what would happen if The Octopus Project began to further investigate Terry Riley’s catalog or other contemporary post-rock acts like Volcano Choir (or Collections of Colonies of Bees for that matter) that may be working with a similar attention to modernizing minimalist composing concepts. There is a wealth of related music that might give the Project the chance to continue expanding their current mathematical mind. Rating: 6/10
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