by Seth Daspit (@ssethate_hair)
Abi Ooze spit in the face of their debut album, R.I.P., continuously swimming on an odyssey of proving that guitars and pop music are still cool – and covering the Shangri-Las along the way. The recording project of Jade Baisa, an alumni of the NWI underground scene, Baisa continues to churn out records among the most genuinely melodic in punk. Forestdale Sessions was released by St. Louis label Rotten Apple and mastered by Andy Peterson, balancing between rambunctious and intimate simultaneously. This is power-pop for basements, alleyways, sidewalks, and yes – bedrooms.
“Cry Alone,” like the subject material, solos into the opening sequences, as if we can picture a scruffy head slowly slobber upward as the Shoe-Shiny Sun is kept out of the hindsight of natural lighting or a mere good morning. The guitar tone is dreary and distorted – the verse chord changes are subtle, yet the keys to an emotional transcendence or bliss. Stern drum fills and chorus-driven cymbal rides blend, flow and erode into disillusion posing as solitude.
“Splice” is pure spiraling. Descending riffs morph into the pogo-esq, bubble acid verse before belly-hopping back to not only descension but now with restless cymbal hits. Simply perfect bass lines and swift, rollercoasting vocal melodies make this a ridiculously joyous angst. “Straight and Narrow” has a picture of eye crust two hours after waking up – or embodying a repetition that would constitute a stumbling, fumbling along but somehow our legs keep upright. Softer vocal delivery, a feathered, repetitious guitar part and sneaky backing vocals all combine for fifty-six seconds of tossed arcadia.