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Auckland-by-way-of-Dunedin band Office Dog are searching for something on their latest effort ‘Prime Corner’. Is it answers? A place to finally belong? Love? Whatever it happens to be, they don’t necessarily seem any closer to finding it on this release. Might they get close? I have a lot of questions for someone who’s heard this album several times now. The answer Office Dog hands us is complicated. If you want to hear from me what I think? I feel that the way these guys navigate this journey is to tap into whatever existential malaise is plaguing them, dial it off the scale, and channel it into an otherwise pretty breezy tracklist of semi-lo-fi indie rock and slowcore ruminations. Reminiscent of beloved late-90’s and early 2000’s cult acts like Sebadoh or Red House Painters, they seem to be on a pendulum between these two modes. Occasionally, they get sprawly and wiry like a Built To Spill, but that’s only sometimes, as a little treat.
Office Dog injects the space between these sullen strums and aloof drum strokes with plenty of residual sound. Each pained note is left to ring out expectantly, all stumbling over themselves in a constant, stationary loop. As an emotional effect, it is quietly affecting, even if as an aesthetic choice it begs a minor adjustment. The slacker attitude is wielded as being the point, acknowledged by the rest of this album’s oft-weary demeanour. When Office Dog breaks out of this stupor, it reads as though they’re working against every instinct their bodies are throwing at them to just lie still and rest. The drumming is moving at a brisk pace, yet it feels cluttered like a mind gets. The guitars are riffing restlessly, but each step sends them deeper into the maze. This album is not without its rare left-hook though. On the closer and title track, by some miracle, the music finds a way to evolve itself into something resembling something aiming to arrive at hope. It brings along with it the record’s most, dare I say, infectious chorus melody. It’s to be expected to save even this little a moment of triumph until last, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t hugely successful in its intentions.
A little too much generality for my tastes overall, ‘Prime Corner’ is still teeming with potential. A step or two away from the gears fully synchronising, the album is somewhat kneecapped by its musical and emotional core feeling so listless at various stages. It’s the double-edged sword of assuming a state of apathy in concept, and allowing it to bleed into the performances. Without the presence of mind to employ proper dynamics: silence, space, proximity, you find yourself with something that is certainly reflective of one’s feelings, but struggles to convert that into transformative work. Music of this nature either needs to extend beyond its earthly positioning, or be so direct that it penetrates the deepest regions of the psyche upon impact. Office Dog don’t make that transition fully, lingering in both a psychological and musical purgatory. The former makes for a rather alluring concept for a project, the latter doesn’t always flatter the former.
Dan Will Review 