Rubber Oh - Soil

Red Splatter Vinyl 

Rubber Oh (Sam Grant) has returned with weirded-out psych project Rubber Oh and the bold new album Soil released on the Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs,  collective imprint, Mr Medicine Records.

Including collaborations from Bristol’s Rozi Plain, London based Voka Gentle, and Newcastle artists Me Lost Me and Ceitidh Mac, the sophomore record offers a vivid journey through Grant’s otherworldly machinations.  

Soil picks up where 2021’s debut Strange Craft left off, presenting kaleidoscopic melodies floating above dense rhythms. It skirts a line between dark heavy riff and floating harmony. However, where the acclaimed Strange Craft was a focussed, at times minimal affair, Soil looks to break out into a vast filmic landscape. It is a record with a new found confidence in what Rubber Oh is, both thematically and sonically. 

A major feature of this record is the arrangements Grant composed throughout for both choir and strings. There is imposed friction; the push and pull between the levity and delicacy of these voices and strings, rubbing up against the grit and distortion of the driving rhythm section - the music is once again built around Grant’s fuzzed-out, hard-panned basses. The unusual marriage of instrumentation here though creates an intriguing sonic space that feels both familiar and new at the same time.

Genre: Alt Rock / Psychedelic