Earlier this month, UK based lo-fi duo Oro Swimming Hour released their wonderful third album Pteradactyl. Normally, in attempting to capture the spontaneous joy and happiness of not only creating music, but creating music their younger selves would have liked to listen to, the duo would spend just a few days together to write and record, using primitive recording methods and trying their best to keep it as improvisational and colorful as possible by limiting the number of takes. This was the case with their previous album Lossy, released last winter.
But with Pteradactyl, the Bristol based duo – composed of psych-pop musician Oliver Wilde and award winning children’s book illustrator Nicholas Stevenson – were instead forced to write and record the album during lockdown by exchanging ideas online. Despite this change, the collaborative, whimsical energy still remained, and is exuded beautifully throughout this album. The childlike wonder is still very much there, both figuratively as well as literally – the album is, after all, dedicated in part to Stevenson’s newborn child, Margot.
Our favorite track from the album is the offbeat “Crocodile,” a woozy fever dream(scape) anchored on gorgeous violin. The lyrics, esoteric, fantastical, and calmly sung, go surprisingly well with the jaunty melody, relaying a story filled with towers, kings, and the occasional interstellar palm tree – like a blank coloring book with colors attached, Oro Swimming Hour’s music offers you, the listener, a bit of fun, ultimately leaving it up to you to fill in the gaps and interpret for yourself.
Pteradactyl is out now via Deertone Records.
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photo courtesy of artist
kid with a vinyl 