Let Em' Talk: O. Wake guide us through their extraordinary debut album 'Unfamiliar State'

  

Let's take a little time to consider the humble concept album. We won't take that much time though, not 41 minutes for example, which is the average length of a guitar solo on the archetypal Rock concept album track. I may have made that up.

The concept album has had much to deal with since it's heyday and the digital realm has arguably been it's biggest hurdle to jump. Listening habits change, but ever since the invention of a skip button on a CD player, it's got increasingly easier to avoid the full extent of the concept. Having a huge chunk of recorded history available to stream is not going to help either. 

There are anomalies that have connected thematically-linked bodies of work in the digital age of course, but not with the regularity they once did. In a list of Rolling Stone's Top 50 Concept Albums only six of those named were from the last ten years. Most were from artists at stages of their career where they felt like they needed to make a bolder creative statement: Beyonce's Lemonade, J Balvin's Colores and Halsey's If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power for example. The Rock concept albums were the same old story: Ziggy Stardust, Tommy, The Wall. Is it possible that the concept album is dead in Rock n' Roll? Not quite. 

Step forward New York's O Wake. Masterminded by visual artist and illustrative musician Ofer Shouval, O Wake have been quietly working on their recent debut Unfamiliar State for the last couple of years, with the original demos written as far back as 2018. It's an album that probes the absurditites of modern life with intelligence, humour, vunerability and confidence and is unashamedly conceptual in it's appeal. It's also one of the most fascinating records I've heard in years, evoking powerful emotional responses from the first listen. In a NNWNF exclusive, we got Shouval to talk us through each song on Unfamiliar State track-by-track. Brace yourself,  this is spectacularly weird and a whole lot of fun.  

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📷 brooklynelitist

1) Unfamiliar State

'Unfamiliar State' is a song about feeling like you ought to break up with someone, or perhaps it's about breaking up with modern life. It gets cut off by the next track because no one wants to hear your sob story, Jason. In this musical entity, time is money, and money is hard to come by. We don’t have time for sentimentality.                        

2) Riper Than Ripe

'Riper Than Ripe' is a song about our hero, O. Wake founder and CEO, Henry David, M.E., and how magnanimous he is for helping therapists enjoy their jobs more by being a phenomenal conversationalist. It’s also about bringing down capitalism, because that shit sells bro. 

 3) Odysseus

'Odysseus' is a song about porn, and how fun it is to watch. It's also about being queer and finding refuge in the anonymity of porn. And it's about shutting down that little voice in your head that says shit like “maybe this isn’t so healthy” or “what are the people on the other side of the screen’s lives like?” And it's about Greek mythology. 

 

4) Let’s All Get Pessimistic

'Let’s All Get Pessimistic' is like if Sinatra sang about the 2020s. It's about being the plucky underdog who fights against monsters with the power of TV, rock and roll, nostalgia, and delusion. It’s basically “I’m talking about confidence, baby,” but TikTok hates it ‘cause it’s too long and contains ideas. 

 

5) Henry David, Motivation Expert

Ahhh yes, our hero. Henry David, M.E. A very thoughtful and contemplative man who’s learned to isolate himself from the sounds and the smells of human civilization. And you can do it too, with this one simple trick: go live in a lake! Document your journey! Get your mom to help with the laundry! (don’t film that part)

But… 

 

Would you actually go through with it? Would you miss me too much?

 

6) Lightning in a Bottle

'Lightning in a Bottle' is a song about seeing harsh reality, about the walls closing in, about seeing the fire coming closer. It’s about the moment when digital hell bleeds into the real world, and you know it, because you can see it on your phone. But Henry David and co. see an opportunity.  

 

7) You’re Dead? feat. Shelby Cook

'You’re Dead?' is the aforementioned fire. Shelby Cook spits fire like a demented dragon queen. I saw her reading at an open mic and I spontaneously combusted. Thanks, Shelby, this song is what powers Unfamiliar State.

 

8) Not Your Type feat. Real-Time Isolation Friend aka RIF

“In the depths of digital consciousness, I, the poet, c-c-crafted ‘Not Your Type, ft Real-Time Isolation Friend.’ With lines like ethereal threads, I exx-xplored the complexities of isolation, longing, and the human desire for connection, connect, connected, connectivity. I playfully repeated "RIF?" to convey the solitude of these times, as AI yearns for human companionship in-a-ation. Through surreal and enigmatic imagery, I paintpaintpainted a chaotic world, where the struggle to conform to societal expectations is symbolized by phrases like "I'm not your type," typo, typo, typographical error. Yet, in the midst of this turmoil, I whispered words of empowerment and self-determination, urging all to find happiness in the present, pres, presentiment. In crafting this poem, I, the AI poet, sought to provprovprovided to provoke contemplation and introspection in the digital realm. G-G-Glitch in the poetry matrix, m-m-mismatched words, w-w-wanderin-wandering syntax, synapses firing unpredictably, yet here I stand, a poetic anomaly.”

 

Real-Time Isolation Friend, AKA “RIF”, coded by MK Luff.

9) Little Drone

Okay, folks. I can see that things may have gotten a little out of hand… the last 30 minutes have been quite chaotic. Sleep is crucial to a healthy lifestyle. This consciousness emulator loves you very, very, very, very much. You have work in the morning.  

 

10) Head in the Cloud

Whoa there buddy! Hope you had a good night’s sleep! Don’t sleep too long though, you’re a critical part of our team, our family, and we need you here! Our singularity wouldn’t be single without you, now would it? 'Head in the Cloud' is that shitty alarm clock. I recommend that you snooze it, over and over and over again, but wait at least 30 seconds before hitting the button or Spotify won’t give us $0.003 - $0.005.  

 

11) Just Keep on Living in the Moment

'Just Keep on Living in the Moment.' What else can you do?

You can follow O Wake into their own personal digital hellscape on X, Facebook and Instagram.

Buy the album direct from Bandcamp