--Ada Wofford
Released August 16, 2019 on Castle Face Records
Face Stabber. What a name! It even has a cover that looks like a forgotten Yu-Gi-Oh card. Face Stabber is, what I suppose amounts to in yesterday’s terms, a double-album, by the critically acclaimed, Oh Sees (formerly Thee Oh Sees and formerly various other names though all fronted by John Dwyer). I haven’t followed this band closely since falling in love with their 2009 release Help. It had all the catchy, hooky, lofi, garagie-goodness one who cares about such things gets out of bed for and although I haven’t followed them closely, every time I happened across whatever they were doing, it was good. Oh Sees is like Guided by Voices in that they are prolific and consistent.
With trademark weirdness, Face Stabber opens with a squeaky-toy metronome that eventually fades into a groovy rhythm section that makes you want to rollerblade or drive a convertible—basically any activity considered fodder for a 90s montage. But this music isn’t 90s at all, it’s actually quite 70s. While reading reviews for this album I was surprised that it wasn’t compared more emphatically to King Crimson. Personally, I hate prog rock but I always had a soft spot for King Crimson because of their punkish mentality and that comes through in spades on Face Stabber. The jams are spanning, schizophrenic, and as Kim Gordon would say, they “run free.” Some reviewers chastised Oh Sees for the album’s two self-indulgent jam tracks, one being near 15 minutes and the other being 21 minutes, but I always applaud when a band gives a good middle finger to the listener. Though even then, I could barely sit through them myself.
The thing about Face Stabber is that it’s like a lot of John Dwyer’s music, it’s great for what it is but it’s not going to change your life or your perspective on music. Dwyer is in that special class of singer-song writers, much like Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices, who just GO. They love sound. They love music. They just write, fuck around, record it, release it, and move on to the next one. Anyone who compulsively writes music totally gets this but anyone who simply listens to music, may find this album a bit confounding. This album is the snapshot of a momentary obsession. A momentary place. Musicians get in spaces and exhaust them, that’s why this album is so fucking long! It’s because of this playfulness and reckless abandonment that I applaud Dwyer’s work ethic and prodigious output.
There are probably prog-heads out there that could compare this album to all sorts of stuff I’ve never heard of, but I’m gonna keep it simple and boil it down to this—If you don’t like King Crimson at all, you will not like this album. If you have never heard of King Crimson and like this album, go check out some King Crimson. Anyway, Oh Sees does a great job of taking the drawn-out stylings of King Crimson and condensing them into bite-sized garage-rock chunks. Tracks like “The Experimenter,” “Snickersee,” and “Fu Xi” all do an excellent job of this. King Crimson is at their best when they hit hard and fast, so I really enjoy the majority of Face Stabber. The issue, even for me, is the double-digit jams. But, I might just not be in the right mind-space. For all I know, they’re great and I simply loss my ability to appreciate such things.
As for the sound and gear, I couldn’t find any info specific to Face Stabber. There’s this terrific Premier Guitar interview with Dwyer from 2017 that covers a lot of his gear and the history behind it. It sounds like he’s been using a lot of this stuff pretty consistently so I’ll give you the gist. Again, this is from Premier Guitar:
Guitars
Electrical Guitar Company metal-neck guitar with acrylic see-through body
Electrical Guitar Company metal-neck 12-string
Burns Double Six 12-String
Amps
1968 Fender Dual Showman Reverb
1978 modded Fender Showman
Two Fender cabs
Effects
Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
Death By Audio Fuzz Warr Overload (modded/knobs removed)
Strings and Picks
Cleartone Heavy Series Designed for Alt Tuning (.012–.060)
Dunlop .60 mm gray picks.
I have been using a Sovtek Green Big Muff (the original) for years and I’ve always said, if it breaks, I’m buying a Death By Audio Fuzz War because that’s what John Dwyer uses. Needless to say, he has amazing tone! The “Overload” bit refers to the fact that this is a custom version of the Fuzz War made with no knobs. Dwyer told Premier Guitar that since he always has them cranked to 10 anyway, there was no point in having knobs. Plus, he’d break them all the time!
Dwyer also uses his own PA on tour. This way he can maintain full control of his vocal mix, since he prefers to sing with delay on his voice. I used to do the same thing and for the same reason. If you ever want to piss off a sound guy just hand him a ¼” jack coming from your mic plugged into a delay.
This is a difficult review to sum up because I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface. Face Stabber is an album that demands multiple listens but if you’re not a musician you might very well hate it. It’s dense but sparse at the same time. It’s busy but can get slow and boring. It’s just a lot to take in. If you’re a fan of the band, I see no reason why you would fail to find something to enjoy. If you’re new to Oh Sees, this might not be the place to start. Maybe try with Help or read up on them and see what others suggest. Better yet, check out the live video below because they are amazing.
Also, check out Dwyer's profile on Equip Board to learn more about what type of gear he uses.
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