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Omni

Drawing inspiration from groups like Devo, Television, and Josef K, the Atlanta band Omni channel the best herky-jerky pop through the ages, pairing nervous rhythms with slashing guitars and near-monotone vocals. After two albums with Trouble in Mind that saw them outlining, then refining, their sparse, decidedly lo-fi approach, they shifted to Sub Pop for 2019's Networker, an album with fuller arrangements and a brighter sound. They built on that with the decidedly punchier, more vocal-forward Souvenir, a 2024 album that proved their sound still had loads of life left in it. Formed by longtime friends ex-Deerhunter guitarist Frankie Broyles and ex-Carnivores bassist/vocalist Philip Frobos soon after Broyles jumped the Deerhunter ship in late 2015, the duo cooked up a new idea for a band over the course of a long, drunken night's work. With songs in hand, they recruited another ex-Carnivore, Billy Mitchell, to handle the drumming chores. The next step was playing live shows and recording an album with Nathaniel Higgins (ex-Carnivore), in the producer's chair. Chicago label Trouble in Mind liked what they heard from Omni and decided to release the album Deluxe in July 2016. After the release, the trio embarked on a quick tour of the U.S. Early the next year, the band released a single made up of two tracks ("Fever Bass"/"Thesis") recorded for Deluxe but not used. Broyles released a solo EP, Slow Return, soon after that on the Skeleton Realm label. Meanwhile, Omni (with Broyles pulling a second shift on drums) began working on their second album, teaming again with producer Higgins and recording at his studio, which was housed in a barn in rural Georgia that was built by Broyles' grandfather in the 1940s. The very similar-sounding Multi-Task was issued in September 2017 by Trouble in Mind. Between spells of touring, the group started recording their third album in familiar territory with Higgins. Broyles again handled drum duties along with keyboards. They laid down songs over the course of four sessions during the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019, refining and focusing their sound while adding more elements like jazz and Tom Verlaine-style guitar slashes. Omni jumped from Trouble in Mind to Sub Pop, and the label released the first fruits of the sessions -- the "Delicacy/"I Don't Dance" single -- in April 2019. They followed that later in the year with their third album, Networker. The band toured behind the record and when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, they spent most of their time doing things other than being in Omni. Frobos recorded a solo album, Vague Enough to Satisfy, released in 2021. When he and Broyles began work on more Omni music, they did so with the help of drummer Chris Yonker, engineer Kristof Sampson, and vocalist Izzy Glaudini of the band Automatic, who Omni had toured with earlier. Her presence on three songs gave a new wrinkle to the band's established approach, as did the front and center placement of Broyles' vocals, and 2024's Souvenir is a taut and energetic installment of the brand of wiry post-punk the band has played since it started.
© Tim Sendra /TiVo

Discography

132 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller

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