Given
Oneida's brilliant
Secret Wars, the question that must now be asked of the three-piece is, "What happened?" On
Nice./Splittin' Peaches,
Oneida sound like a completely different band, which wouldn't be a bad thing if the new record went into a new area that was rewarding for the listener.
Oneida are all over the map with
Nice./Splittin' Peaches, running from the
Zappa-ish Eastern prog vibe of "Summerland" to the electronic folk vibe of "Song Y." The repetitive last track, "Hakuna Matata," retains the same line for 15 minutes. There seems to be a story that needs uncovering here -- Ace Fu Records claims that "this is a record of ideas, lots of them." Definitely true, but ideas for a future release? Since
Secret Wars was a success and released in January 2004, maybe Ace Fu wanted to get something out by
Oneida, but ultimately got duped. Whatever the case,
Oneida might have considered more fully developing the ideas on
Nice./Splittin' Peaches before releasing it to the world. The one thing listeners can hope for is that the new release in 2005 on home label Jagjaguwar will be different. ~ David Serra