Entirely competent but utterly pointless jam band rock from Santa Cruz, CA,
OHMS look like your dad (singer/guitarist Ben Camo), your dad's semi-hot trophy wife (singer/guitarist Cinnamon Camo...yes, really...whose previous claim to fame was a gig as vocalist for one of Sam Andrew's post-Big Brother & the Holding Company bands), and his two somewhat skeevy college buddies (bassist Grant Kappen and drummer Steve Parker) who occasionally crash in the guest room on their way to Burning Man. This would be a terribly unfair, prejudicial characterization of the band if it weren't for the fact that
OHMS' second album,
Euphoria, sounds just like its musical equivalent. Cinnamon Camo -- a name that never stops being fun to say, incidentally -- is a passable lead guitarist, but her lead vocals are strictly third-string rock-chick stuff along the lines of
Zephyr's Candy Givens, and the dopey, clichéd lyrics are no better. (By comparison, Ben Camo's occasional lead vocals, as on the opening "The Buck Stops Here," are completely unmemorable.) The clunky rhythm section lacks the sense of swing that the best jam bands prize, making each lengthy song -- even a relatively speedy rocker like "Divided Highway" -- something of a tiring slog. Overall,
Euphoria is a terribly misnamed album. ~ Stewart Mason