Pö om pö (meaning ‘little by little’) is a journey further into inner space from ‘II’, the previous Rocket outing (which followed a 2014 cassette only release). It’s a still more expansive and vibrant transmission from the ether which distills kaleidoscopic rapture and oracular intensity from a variety of sources. The excursions here are jam-based in origin but lucid in approach, crepuscular in aspect but uplifting in effect.
What’s mapped out here is a trajectory on the kosmische continuum that touches on the terrain of late -‘70s Sky records style ambience (Cluster, Harald Grosskopf) the more overgrown quarters of Swedish experimental prog (Arbete Och Fritid, Anna Själv Tredje) and the sun-baked lo-fi DIY cassette culture of the US early ‘00s (Sun Araw, Magic Lantern) Although the overarching mood of ‘Pö Om Pö’ is one of blissed-out indolence, it’s stubbornly averse to the cliches that have beset the psychedelic world this century - no motorik dead-ends or tambourine-shaking two-chord hoedowns to be experienced here. Rather we’re transported to a landscape where drone-based ritualism vies for attention with Faustian abstraction.
Dwelling in a smoke-clouded glow that’s equal parts sunset gold and effects pedal red, OCH have here transcended all influences to creating a tapestry of potent psychotropic sound. A record in which new horizons open up beyond the small hours, and where primeval wah-wah-abetted skronk and mantric folk-tinged repetition can collude to reveal new third-eye perceptions. Little By Little, Pö om pö, these forty minutes are here to bridge the chasms between conscious and subconscious, and in style.
