#obverse

The first of my many memes

Obverse. Obverse

🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

FFO: INTRUMENTAL PROGRESSIVE HARP ROCK! / LISTEN

Do you know the Muffin Man? How about Harp Lady, the internet's busiest harpist and effect pedal aficionado? Emily Hopkins (aka Harp Lady aka emilyharpist aka emilyharpist2) has teamed up for a surprise collaborative EP with Chris Allison, most notably recognized for his work with jazz-fusion outfit Plini, and Dan Briggs, the low-end groove technician of Between the Buried and Me fame. Together, this harp, bass, and drum trio offers up a fresh and ethereal take on instrumental progressive-ambient-harp-jazz... metal? Yeah.

Obverse certainly does not aim to overwhelm with distortion or speed. In fact, I often found myself pining for a bit more growl in Briggs' bass tone, but the rhythms in which Obverse (the entity) create still exhibit a knotty sense of technicality that seems obvious considering two-thirds of the members' progressive metal backgrounds. Fingers are swift and precise; time signatures tend to leave you holding on a second longer than you expect, but it's all so chillllll. Playful really is the key word here. Briggs' and Allison's rhythm work is astute in its virtuosity, no doubt, but they are here first and foremost to set the stage and provoke reactions from Hopkins' electric harp, and they don't make it easy for her. Briggs and Allison collapse entire suns for Hopkins to dance around like a butterfly with wings made of cosmos. She does so with grace and fluidity.

Hopkins' harp is a technicolor joy that takes on many forms throughout these four movements. Of course, such a wide array of frequencies combined with the ability to run specific note ranges through separate effect chains would create such a diverse and shimmering show of lights. This is where Hopkins' extensive pedal collection absolutely comes in clutch. The tones on this EP are just dripping in boutique reverbs, fluttering echos, and sunburst fuzz. Special shout-out to those ASMR popping sounds near the middle of "Obverse II” that sound like the rippled implosions of tiny stars; you'll know when you hear them. Hopkins' harp lays atop the rhythm like a living, breathing organism, exhaling atoms into the breeze, and Briggs, who sounds equally opportunistic in his shapeshifting, must have also shared in the plunder of Hopkins' pedal stash. Allison's drumming speaks for itself, of course; his dance is intricate and plays a vital role in linking the pieces of Obverse together, but sometimes a perfectly timed and warbled string pluck over a cymbal hit does give the impression of mutual metamorphosis.

Limited Digital Release has just been put up for Forgotten Lives 1, 2 and 3 (@forgottenlivesobverse) at Obverse Books @obversebooks.

This is a limited release so don't miss out. (I really sound like an ad but I swear these books are worth it)

Most importantly Rose should be there, but not the Empress of the Wolf or the Moment anything like that.