Edley ODowd is an interesting individual. An artist and musician, Odowd has created album sleeves and book covers, while as a musician he worked with Psychic TV for over 14 years.
His relationship with Psychic TV’s Genesis P-Orridge goes back a long way, even introducing h/er wife Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge in 1995. Later, Odowd encouraged Genesis to start creating music with Psychic TV again and remained a member of the band until their dissolution.
He also works as a solo artist and with new band Scorpion Tea. His latest release is a six track EP F(OUR)WARD, so titled as a result of a play on words he developed with P-Orridge. F(OUR)WARD was initially released as a limited edition cassette but is being made available with three extra tracks, with a new release date of 23 February.
The tracks are accompanied by videos and Odowd says of the twin mediums “The video clips that accompany these songs are designed to be trance-induced launchpads for the audio and vice-versa. A world within our own, in which we can see and hear new and exciting things”.
The videos were shot on various locations in Mexico and Colombia, with ODowd’s goal wanting to present a visual environment one could listen to the music within.
F(OUR)WARD starts off Galactic Immersion, rich with textured feedback before forming something more concrete and substantial. A series of pulses and drones come and go while the background noise shifts and constantly forms new shapes. I am reminded of Eraserhead, the way the background noise permeates the lives of the characters.
Constance C Craving again offers fertile guitar textures, this time anchored by a steady bass drum. The repetition forces the music into your being and a disconnected voice towards the end adds a slightly human edge to proceedings. Morgue Wheel starts off with vocal samples that give the effect of a radio dial being turned at random, some found sound added to the collage that Odowd throws up around us.
Damn Baby is an ominous collection of distorted snippets of conversations with pounding drums. The effect is one of eavesdropping on unknowing parties, but the percussion makes it difficult to concentrate on what is being said, giving the song a disorientating feel. Titmous is a more spartan affair, with the elements that make up the sonic palette being given more room to grow and expand on their own.
Final track Hand-Crafted ClifFs pushes things out even further and is a swirling, immersive track that sounds like an abstract soundtrack for a Lynchian encounter. The tracks on F(OUR)WARD spark the imagination and conjure up mental images. When it finishes we fell quite exhausted, having been on a strange and at times mysterious journey.
There will be more of Edley Odowd in the near future, with further releases already being planned. In the meantime, fans of drone, industrial or experimental music will find much to love here, with many layers to peel back and new sounds to discover.
“I wanted to create something of nightmares and bliss” says Odowd. We think he has done that in spades.
Buy F(OUR)WARD here.
Sun 13 