Just as a picture can be worth a thousand words, a single sound can reveal fierce sentiment all within seconds of crashing our eardrums. On Against Face, Seth Olinsky, the multi-instrumentalist, sound designer, and the maestro of melodious cacophony behind Cy Dune, paints us his very own punked-up American Gothic. In a forward-leaning, energized package, Against Face grabs the listener, soaks them in melt-your-face vibrations, and then pushes them out to the dancefloor.
Olinsky takes a sonic leap from his time with early aughts experimental folk group Akron/Family, as strips away sweeping acoustics for punchy, blues-laced riffs, and a smattering of emphatic, dancey exclamations. Fusing inspirations from the howls of The Stooges and the steely melodic hooks from Gang of Four with the synthesizer-soaked swagger of LCD Soundsystem, pinning one genre is a disservice to the ground Olinksy is attempting to cover, and the fun he's trying to have. "Don't Waste My Time" and "Against Face" open with a relentless tom-driven groove and playful jabs at the innumerable pressures of modern life. A noticeable standout, "Disorientation (Cut Up)," bobs with a funky bassline underneath steely guitar riffs in a buoyant, aggressively mismatching sonic peak. Like a breath of fresh air, this brief record renews, invigorates, and lights that transcendent fire glowing in all of us. With Against Face, Cy Dune communicates buoyant energy, and a universal truism that a little bit of playful spunk is sometimes all we need to prevail through the doldrums of modern life. © William Card/Qobuz