Ashrr - 'Oscillator' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Waiting For Silence

2. All Yours All Mine

3. Made Up Your Mind

4. Paper Glass

5. Lost In You

6. Boundaries

7. Don't Wait Too Long

8. Artifact

9. Sometimes

10. Medicine Man

11. Here

Formed in 2018, Ashrr hail from Los Angeles and have a new album “Oscillator” which was released on May 10th. Although the band have only been together for a year, the members have individually carved out solid careers in the industry – Steven Davis has worked with the likes of John Oates and has numerous TV and film credits to his name; Ethan Allen is a producer and engineer (amongst other things) and has worked with the likes of BRMC, Tricky, The Cult and Luscious Jackson whilst Josh Charles has co-written/produced seven albums and was mentored by none other than Dr. John. So, they have a decent pedigree but does the album follow through on it?

Well it does and it doesn’t. There’s no doubting that these guys can write a tune and several of the songs (“Medicine Man”, “Don’t Wait Too Long” and “Made Up Your Mind” in particular) have more hooks than a summer long fishing expedition but...well, for me, it doesn’t quite work. There’s plenty of analogue Synth Pop and New Wave in there to keep you happy, and Steven Davis’ vocals remind you of the likes of Bowie and Byrne so that can’t be bad either. It’s difficult to explain but the closest I can get is this – you know how the England football team is usually made up of really talented footballers, who shine for their clubs but when they’re all brought together it just doesn’t gel? That’s how this album makes me feel…the talent pool is immense but somehow the sum of its parts is greater than the whole (to bastardise Aristotle…sorry old chap).

This is a good album, but it’s not a great one. Nor is it as good as you feel it should have been, given the make up of the band.