Review: Thee Oh Sees – Dog Poison
Thee Oh Sees – Dog Poison (2009) [Captured Tracks] // Grade: B
Thee Oh Sees (rather, John Dwyer’s revolving project, nee OCS, nee the Oh Sees, nee the Ohsees) have always struck me as underdogs of that long-lost garage craze of the late 90s/early 00s: forever skittering just under the radar, yet way more interesting than something like Vue ever hoped to be. Not that they sound anything like the polished garage that era spawned and subsequently cannibalized, however linked they might be to a certain garage-y sensibility. Dog Poison is more sloppy pseudo-psych than anything; fuzzy and raucous in some places, totally George Harrison transcendent in others—and it’s not even the band’s best release this year.
It is, however, their most consistently interesting, thanks in part to a switch from fuzzed out guitars to jangly acoustic ones. Though tracks like “The Fizz” and “Voice In The Mirror” definitely feel like slightly less intense versions of Help (the band’s April full-length release), it’s the feedback and flute combo of “I Can’t Pay You To Disappear” and the almost meditative “Dead Energy” that represent the album best. Think less The Kinks (though, let’s be serious, Thee Oh Sees will never be truly incomparable to The Kinks) and more Marc Bolan circa late Tyrannosaurus Rex. It’s still super-catchy, messy as hell and full of explosive noise and hollow tin-can production, but the acoustic/electric trade-off strips the band of any head-on abrasiveness and ultimately makes the background noise way more impactful. Not as totally flawless as Help…but definitely worth more than a few listens.
