London duo O. converge crushing riffs, relentless grooves, and unfiltered creativity on one of the year’s most captivating instrumental albums, ‘WeirdOs.’

Stream: ‘WeirdOs’ – O.

There are a lot of things O. is and a lot of things O. isn’t.

The London-based drum and saxophone duo are very much jazz-coded, but they’re not quite Coltrane. Their sound is industrial but it’s not quite Nine Inch Nails. Their aesthetic is punk but not quite Squid. Dawning elements from a slew of inspirations, WeirdOs (released June 24 on Speedy Wunderground) is a bit hard to pin down, but one thing is for sure: O. has made a hell of a debut with a sound that is raw, energetic, and unashamedly their own.

O.’s sound is derived from the drumming of Tash Keary and a legion of effects pedals used to alter Joe Henwood’s saxophone. The duo began as a pandemic-era jam project which quickly gained notoriety after years of live performances in London’s underground jazz scene. Yet despite the group’s size, O. manages to craft a sound that is larger than life – think Louis Cole meets The Comet is Coming. Much of O.’s music consists of Keary’s invigorating drumming blazing through the texture of Henwood’s weighty, repetitive, and earth-shattering riffs; it’s primal, catchy, and difficult not to bang your head to.

Though experimental in nature, O. makes the most out of a little as WeirdOs is a fairly versatile listen. And needless to say, the album dishes out some absolute *bangers*. Singles like “176” feature a catchy, tough-as-nails sax riff and a nimble, death-defying drumbeat while “Green Shirt” is a punk blitzkrieg which showcases the band’s dexterity and precision. Closing track “Slap Juice” is a dark and grimy display of head-thrashing grunge while the cool “Sugarfish” is constructed around a sweet, hypnotic, Middle Eastern inspired riff which draws a very necessary connection between O. and their UK jazz contemporaries Sons of Kemet – it’s a blast!

As memorable as these tracks are, the album is not devoid of dynamics.

O. smartly plants soft moments of reprieve which nicely contrast the heavier aesthetic. “Micro” for example is structured around small sections of loose, avant-garde psych while the aptly named “Whammy” sees the duo playing with an eerie and intergalactic patch of reverb amidst some subatomic bass drones.

The duo’s songwriting is pretty top notch as well. The repetitive riffs heard throughout much of the album are spun in a way that sounds natural yet incredibly earworm-y. Longer tracks like “TV Dinners” and “Cosmo” display the band’s steady pacing, O. drawing out the softer, more intimate moments before teeing up and whopping the listener over the head with more of that sweet, raucous distortion.

**While O.’s aesthetic may sound a bit niche, WeirdOs is completely accessible.**

The duo draw from their stable of inspirations to make for a listen that is both musically appealing and incredibly memorable; a testament to Keary and Henwood’s chemistry, incredibly versatile production, and world-class performance ability. Standing on the shoulders of what came before it, WeirdOs is a creative triumph which sits on a throne of its own design and leaves us excited for what O. will bring us next.

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