Oh My Eyes released their debut EP “Deep Fake” today. The Seattle-based four-piece met last year in the weeks leading up to the pandemic. Active participants in the Black Lives Matter protests on the cities’ Capitol Hill, this quartet of songwriters and musicians are directly informed by social justice struggles. Advocating for “self-organization” and the “leveling of social hierarchies,” the band explains:
“We adamantly reject authoritarianism, white supremacy, heteronormativity, and any system that oppresses our BIPOC and LGBTQ family. We believe social structures should be cooperative and function from an ethic of mutual aid rather than competition.”
Crafting music that resonates from these convictions, the band’s “Deep Fake” EP was written while socially mediated deception and the peddling of misinformation poisoned our civic discourse as never before. In response, Oh My Eyes’ act of music-making becomes an example of how an active and sustaining community of like-minded folk can learn to share and create, even in the face of a pandemic and near societal collapse.
Comprised of six tracks, cuts like “Yeahhh” and “Sunset Dreams” find Oh My Eyes exploring the more surf-driven side of their indie-rock sound. “Yeahhh” opens things off with vintage sounding guitar-lines as melody and rhythm criss-cross the ocean waves while woozy, sun-soaked vocals echo in candy-colored tones. “Sunset Dreams” basks in a similar, turned-on vibe, but it is more autumnal with its declaration of nights growing “colder.”
“Deep Fake” also finds the group exploring plenty of psych-tinged material. “Supply & Demand” braids intertwining guitar lines with country twang and a bit of glam swagger, while “Ugly Compromise” floats high above a late-night campfire as it fades into astral realms. Likewise, the EP’s lead single “Today Is Yesterday” combines glowing melody with languid harmonies. Both wistful and bittersweet, the song points to the emotive quality that lies at the heart of this band’s debut effort.
