By the time bands hit their fourth album, they quite often either sound out of gas or desperate to find some kind of new direction that will win their fans back.
Omni show no signs of fatigue or concern on their 2024 album
Souvenir. The duo of bassist/vocalist
Philip Frobos and guitarist
Frankie Broyles teamed up with new drummer
Chris Yonker to make something that's very much of a piece with the jumpy, incisively hooky post-punk they had previously made, but also something that has a crisper focus, brighter sound, and the occasional twist. It makes for a thrilling addition to their catalog so far, maybe their most immediate and exciting record. It may lack the surprise of
Deluxe, and the scores of bands who have sprung up in the wake have made them sound less unique, but there is something special about
Souvenir. A few factors contributing to that effect are the work of engineer
Kristofer Sampson, who captures the band's sound fully, giving them a fully dimensional and clean sound; the addition of
Automatic vocalist
Izzy Glaudini, who adds some very laconic vocals that contrast nicely with
Frobos' strangled drawl; and the fact that the band had been on enforced hiatus long enough that getting back together to play music was seemingly a joyful pursuit. Maybe the most important factor to the album's success is the combination of very, very hooky songs and
Frobos delivering them with a more insistent, higher-in-the-mix approach. His presence there gives the listener something to focus on instead of the music, words, and vocals all hitting on the same frequency. A handful of the songs bring the lead guitar way up in the mix as well, the raucous lines on "Double Negative" or the biting solo on "Compliment" push the excitement levels into the red. The rest of the album hovers and twitches not too far from that line as well, with many of the songs lining up as contenders for the inevitable greatest-hits album. "PG" is a squirmy story song that finds
Frobos at his most poetic, "Exacto" comes across like the quintessential
Omni song as it deftly marries a frantic verse with a free-flowing chorus, and "Plastic Pyramid" feels like a time traveler lifted from a mythical album made by members of
Television and
the B-52s with a jarringly brilliant cowpoke interlude. These tracks and others are clearly the work of a band harnessing a mid-career burst of creative genius, and the result is indie rock, and
Omni, at their 100 percent best and most exhilarating. ~ Tim Sendra