Taiga

Japanese pressing with earliest release. Communication with nature is not a new theme for OOIOO. Visually, album art designs and band photos bare hidden repetitions of o-o-i-o-o and videos have visually featured woods of the forest above any member of the band. Much of the band's past music has incorporated tribal rhythms and wild sounds, but an even more prominent focus on nature is clearly stated on the new album, TAIGA right from the title, which means big river in Japanese and forest in Russian. TAIGA shows OOIOO displaying a wide array of instrumental sounds and textures. Focused on accentuating the rhythm, the band adds layers as seemlessly as they take them away. Rythms patters ebb and flow naturally like the tide all the while a fragile melody interweaves them waves. To a similar effect, Yoshimi and her band-mates' vocals range from tribal and meditative chants to bird calls and free-folk screaming. TAIGA sounds like the deep forest from the bank of a big river, the sounds of animals and trees, life and death. This is a call to nature as only Yoshimi could muster. TAIGA was produced by Yoshimi P-we, founder, leader, and songwriter of OOIOO. She began her music career in 1986 playing drums in UFO or Die with Eye and joining him in revolutionary noise-pop experimentalists Boredoms. Formed as a fictitious band for a 1996 magazine article, OOIOO quickly gained attention when they opened for Sonic Youth in 1997 with their powerful and positively energetic force on stage. There are very few bands who can step on stage and instantly demand your attention, quickly capture your heart and inevitably make you move as OOIOO does.