Off Contact – Can You? CD

If you’ve paid attention to the underground music scene in recent years, you’ve probably noticed how many artists and bands continue to deliver some of the finest work ever. It’s become nearly impossible to stumble upon a bad-sounding recording, and every album includes at least a couple of bangers suitable for any playlist. But if you dig even deeper under the surface, you could easily find a vast sea of music outlets with albums that have no skips at all. Those artists and bands bring fresh, unique, innovative, exciting compositions that immediately wrap around your ears, tackle all senses, and refuse to let go long after the last notes and beats fade away. “Can You?” by Off Contact is unquestionably one of those albums falling into that category. Released on July 31st, this material carries ten marvelous songs, continuously traversing several different yet complementary music genres. You’ll notice how post-punk reigns supreme here, as the band incorporated all those fundamental elements of the genre into each segment of every song, but also, do not be surprised if you stumble upon some of the finest properties borrowed from post-hardcore, psychgaze, psychrock, art punk, alternative, or indie roaming around. The best part about experimenting with so many subgenres at once is how they use them as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details, while remaining completely loyal to their primary sonic direction. Anyone even remotely into writing and composing songs knows that’s not an easy task to maintain, but it seems like Off Contact does it with such ease. And while these compositions undoubtedly invoke eighties shoegaze and post-punk, nineties alternative and indie rock, “Can You?” also sounds fresh and modern in so many ways. While the band explores eras where all those mentioned styles reigned on the airwaves, they also infuse qualities that meet all the trends of contemporary music production, making “Can You?” suitable for longtime post-punk, shoegaze, and alternative rock fans, and newbies to these music genres.

As soon as you press play, you’ll notice how Off Contact thought about everything while writing, composing, arranging, and producing this fine piece of sonic artistry. Each composition included on this epic sonic voyage arrives with a perfect structure, clever arrangements, profoundly detailed segments, brilliant ideas, and outstanding musicianship. And you’ll definitely hear it, as Off Contact fires from all cylinders from start to finish. The soulful, passionate, sincere, confident, powerful vocal performance acts as a centerpiece here, elevating everything the band intended to achieve with these songs to new heights, commanding attention, providing more than necessary emotional depth, complexity, and additional melody over the top, all while guiding listeners through all the segments of these songs. In the meantime, the guitars shine in the limelight by offering more than necessary backdrop for all vocals to shine upon, creating a luxuriant soundscape, and delivering many beautiful orchestrations throughout the entire album.  You’ll notice how all those regular and arpeggiated chord progressions, catchy riffs, beautiful harmonies, melodies, themes, and other sonic maneuvers shape this voyage. Of course, this album wouldn’t be complete without an equally impressive rhythm section. The bass rumbles right beneath all those lush guitar works, offering more heaviness, clarity, and depth, while simultaneously binding all the mentioned orchestrations and rhythmic patterns. These deep, dense, heavy low ends expertly deliver more groove and detail without overwhelming the remainder of the instrumentation. The exceptional drumming performance, based upon tastefully assembled beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics, keeps the entire band together while dictating groove and pace with precision and finesse. You’ll notice how every hit of the snare, kick of the bass drum, accentuation over hi-hat, and splash over cymbals has its place and purpose. Off Contact thought about everything while writing and composing this material, making one of the finest post-punk albums you’ll hear in a while.

“Can You?” will be right up your alley if you’re looking for a dark, cinematic, emotive, soulful post-punk album, performed by four incredible musicians. You should definitely put this gem on your radar if you’re looking for an all killer, no filler listening experience. Head to Off Contact’s Bandcamp page for more information about purchasing a compact disc.