The Observatory is one of the finest experimental rock bands in the world. On 2014s Oscilla the group really leans into the krautrock aspect of their sound while still defying easy categorization and genre norms. The Singapore based on group consists of master percussionist Cheryl Ong, synth/keys player Yuen Chee Wai and guitarist Dharma, here joined by bassist Vivian Wang and singer Leslie Low. His deep voice and increasingly political lyrics define this era for the group and this record was one of their most successful to date despite the crushing density it possesses both sonically and thematically.

Fortunately we don’t have to digest this behemoth unaided. The Observatory are in a class of their own in regards to their beautiful vinyl packaging with extensive lyrics and liner notes. As explained in those liner notes the anti establishment and anti wealth themes center on the idea of Zomia. Zomia is a term describing the cultural and political reality of the mountainous regions of South Asia where at least 100 million people live essentially unincorporated, unruled lives. That’s a stark contrast to the tech centric urban Singapore that The Observatory calls home.

This record questions the perception of the ungoverned people of South Asia as primitive and pre-societal. Oscilla asks the listener: what about living out of touch with the land and natural time, captive in hierarchical structure and mired in inequality, is so damn civilized? Is our real nature out there somewhere, nomadic and free? And by cultivating that mindset within ourselves, that pre-hierarchical rhizomatic nature that never really went extinct, can we dismantle the systems of oppression in which we live?

Now you definitely have to approach this album with an open heart and mind. It’s a very sincere and not particularly subtle record. In this way it’s got a lot more in common with the psychedelic kind of krautrock that’s influenced The Observatory than the more clinical, even cynical kind of noise rock that they also fit alongside. Because even with the group here at their most psychedelic and trance inducing they are still a very dark very experimental noise rock kind of band. The way that they really look inward and process these political and societal themes through self reflection is very psychedelic to me. If you really let yourself get really immersed in their albums, particularly the vocal/lyrical ones like this, they are truly incredible works. Oscilla packs huge expression and experimentation into thirty minutes that you won’t soon forget.