Album Review: Oen Sujet - 'Life Given To Quiet Places'

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Highly quirky electric pop that is, frankly, a bit all over the place. Canadian Oen Sujet have 13 rotating members, complex, literary lyrics, unconventional timescales and impenetrable ten-minute tracks. The production is good, with bleeps and syncopated electro basslines the order of the day, and Julie Blanche Taillon’s vocals are reminiscent of Imogen Heap. But its sheer artiness is offputting, with lyrics split over phrases and a willful disregard for hooks. Sitting through it is a bit like being prodded in the shoulder repeatedly by an art student. It’s hard to see who this will appeal to and by track three I wanted to pull the plug.