Sylvan Esso's 'Ow ∞' Is a Gleeful, Percussion-Drunk Record About Hurting
Four years in the woods outside Chapel Hill, and what Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn came back with is not a hush record. Ow ∞, out on their own Psychic Hotline, is twelve songs that turn discomfort into propulsion. Paste’s verdict is the neatest summary anyone has managed: it “brims with delight” while working on pain and mortality, and it proves that “perspective makes reality.”
The Sonic Breakdown
The Production & Mix
The Low-End: Daniel Aged’s bass gives the record a body it hasn’t had before — rounder, more played, less programmed, and mixed to sit under Meath rather than opposite her. The Spatial Dynamics: The real news is the drums. Six different players turn up across the album — TJ Maiani, Joe Westerlund, Glenn Kotche, Jake Luppen, Jenn Wasner and Sanborn himself — and instead of homogenising them, the mix keeps each kit’s character audible. The result is a percussion bed that changes personality between tracks while the songwriting stays recognisably one thing. “Flood Season” and “Sledge” hit like two different bands with the same nervous system.
Standout Performance
Meath, obviously, but specifically her phrasing on the back half. “Good at Pain” and “Jessica” are the sort of titles that invite a singer to go small and wounded; she goes the other way, pushing forward into the beat, and the songs get bigger and sadder simultaneously.
Why It’s Certified
Because it earns the infinity sign. An album that opens on “Entertainment & Coca-Cola” and closes on “Plastic Sword” could have been a sneer; instead “Concrete Glen,” “Ribbon” and “On & On” keep finding the tender reading of an ugly image. Four years is a long time to spend on twelve songs. You can hear all four of them, and none of it sounds laboured. Certified great.