Deep Tissue

Chronique

People of the North's Deep Tissue wasn't so much a side project of jam-loving Brooklyn undergrounders Oneida as an extension of their mission. Featuring only Oneida members, headed by drummer Kid Millions and keyboardist Bobby Matador, and including newest recruit Shahin Motia, formerly of Ex Models, the disc's 36 minutes sound very much like the band that spawned these musicians. The trio lights out for territories suggested by the band's sprawling Rated O, released the year before. Stripped of Hanoi Jane's locked-in guitar riffs, the music surrenders more fully to Millions' pulse, with vocals drifting in on three of the four tunes in typical Oneida manner: layered in reverb above an unbroken throb, such that the tunes still scan mostly as instrumentals. On "Summer Leaves," the effect is almost Eno-esque. In some places, like the 14-and-a-half-minute closer, "Over Me," it's not particularly necessary. Still, People of the North's ambitions are winning ones, even as the trio dabbles in sweeping progscapes like the half-narrated "The Vastest Island," ultimately coming out on top through sheer love of the jam.
© Jesse Jarnow /TiVo