Octo Octa – Between Two Selves

Octo Octa
Between Two Selves
100% Silk

Between Two Selves is a subdued approach to electronic bliss. Its music is caught in a flux between fiery exchanges on the dancefloor and soft ambient hues. I’m sure that Michael Bouldry-Morrison can turn up the sweat with his Deep House talents, but on Between Two Selves, he chooses not to. Instead, he opts for soulful cosmology and contemplative demeaner.

It sounds like I’m trying to describe the essence of Moby’s music, and with a song like “Bad Blood,” you might be right. But by posing a question as the opener to the album, the song “Who Will I Become?,” it is perfect for Bouldry-Morrison’s concept.

Between Two Selves is a complicated yet enticing album that is built on analysis. He takes the Socratic approach to electronic music by mirroring his thoughts with the sound. “Come Closer’s” echoes of “I Want You,” shoot out through your headphones and into eternity.

Octo Octa – Night Out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EwV2KJpVEA

About that fiery exchange? The song transitions into club-level bleeps making your blood pressure rise. The repeated and overlayed vocals become more prevalent and distracts from all of the great things that are going on in the background. Even with the volume turned up, Bouldry-Morrison keeps restraint in check.

“His Kiss” layers things on a higher level of House texturizing, but still it fits better in a side room than thumping through main room stacks. For me, that’s a good thing because the music Bouldry-Morrison creates is intimate even when exposed like “Work Me,” a throwback to warehouse fantasies and ecstasy-infused electronic coloring.

Although not a mix, the album’s song transitions can be treated as one. The songs are longer than normal album fodder (averaging six-to-seven minutes in length), and there is plenty of room in it all for Boudlry-Morrison to explore.

Octo Octa is a feeling more than an entity. It will take time for you to grab on to everything he is doing, but adventure and mystic are what makes this album worth digging into.