|
‘Pasadena’ has energy and heft
Author: Kevin Bronson (The Los Angeles Times)
Published: May 3, 2007
And file this under coincidence: Ozma is back.
The underrated, Weezer-endorsed quintet, dormant for most of 2004 and 2005, releases a new album "Pasadena" -- a nod to its hometown -- on May 15. The music is more muscular and mature than the crunchy power-pop that gained Ozma a large Southland following over its first three albums.
Did the band spend its time off in the gym working out? Quite the contrary, singer-bassist Daniel Brummel says. While his mates played in another project, "I got really into folk music, things like Harry Smith, Appalachian music.... It helped me see lyrics a little differently, and see the value in using things like idioms and tropes, powerful archetypes that stand the test of time."
If the songs have more heft than "our previously hopelessly romantic boy-girl thing," Brummel says, they also sound infused with new energy. "When we all came back, it was a very fertile period for songwriting," he says.
After five months in the studio with friends and co-producers Billy Burke and Greg Doyle, Ozma turned "Pasadena" over to Matt Hyde (No Doubt, Sublime, Sum 41), who Brummel says "really brought [fortitude] back to the mix." The album also features a vocal turn by Rachel Haden (That Dog, the Rentals) and guitar contributions from Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws.
Brummel and bandmates Star Wick, Ryen Slegr, Kenn Shane and Jose Galvez start a West Coast tour this week that ends with dates May 16 at Chain Reaction and May 17 at the Troubadour. Says Brummel: "It feels fantastic."
| 
