On his debut release, Will Wiesenfeld hadn't fully found himself, but on Obsidian, the L.A. musician delivers a much more cohesive vision.
Obsidian could have easily been too indulgent or morose, but instead it's soul-baring in ways that feel fresh.
By blending the conceptual drive of Post-Foetus and the organic songwriting of Baths, Wiesenfeld has delivered on the promise of Cerulean and found his place among contemporaneous pop experimenters like Grimes and Autre Ne Veut.
While Obsidian maintains some aspects of Cerulean, namely, its lap-pop intimacy and Wiesenfeld's unsteady, quavering vocals, the shock is in hearing him make a complete heel turn, fearlessly operating like someone absolved of personal repercussion or culpability
Obsidian is the exactly the type of record a Baths fan should be excited for: something simultaneously original, brave, and exciting to listen to over and over again.
Ultimately, your mood as a listener – and perhaps the weather – will dictate how often you’ll return to Obsidian‘s bleak and beautiful world.
The sense of sardonic, self-deprecating whimsy is what ultimately allows Obsidian to triumph, forming a kind of triangle with the album's two other mainstays: lachrymose piano/string combinations and morphing, spiny undercurrents of electronic percussion.
There’s a leisurely swagger about Obsidian, leading to a massive change in feel for Baths. There are no bells and whistles this time around, just barren landscapes and lyrics, lyrics, lyrics.
Despite the density of the music, ‘Obsidian’ is a wholly immersive experience, setting Baths back on course.
There’s no denying the technical ability and songcraft is there, and unpicking the layers is the most enjoyable part of listening, but it’s emotional tugging ultimately strikes as hollow, not through insincerity but in being too obfuscated or overbearing for me to really love these songs.
Baths’ second album is dark and distressing but ultimately compelling. It’s clear that this is the work of a fascinatingly subversive mind.
Obsidian is a brave and necessary record that builds on Baths’ glitchy poignance.
Obsidian is the dark record it was billed as because it starts to ask its own uncomfortable questions. Love becomes more illusory when it stops getting quoted.
For all the dark, depthless beauty of Wiesenfeld’s immaculately constructed record, its solidity feels too opaque.
An album with independent parts that are quite inspired on their own but only form a seemingly infinitely confused whole.
It is not out of disappointment with this darker direction that I am dissatisfied with Obsidian, but its misguided execution.
I was never a huge fan of the vocals on this project but still absolutely love the instrumentals and production. Beautiful but soul crushing.
Highlights: Worsening, Miasma Sky, Ossuary, Phaedra, No Past Lives
Words cannot describe the emotions and sensations that Baths' Obsidian brings to the table.
Obsidian is a terrifically dark album, which doesn't surprise me considering the circumstances of this album's background. It paints a dreadful and depressing picture of a very bleak world, but at the same time there's always this tone of hope in Wiesenfeld's lyrics. It's like he's hanging by an extremely short thread, but he never wants to fall down. That same tone sort of makes it possible for the ... read more
Baths - Obsidian (2013)
Worsening - 78
Miasma Sky - 83 ☆
Ironworks - 77
Ossuary - 80
Incompatible - 61
No Eyes - 53
Phaedra - 68
No Past Lives - 72
Earth Death - 81 ☆
Inter - 70
Standouts: Miasma Sky, Earth Death, Ossuary
I was never a huge fan of the vocals on this project but still absolutely love the instrumentals and production. Beautiful but soul crushing.
Highlights: Worsening, Miasma Sky, Ossuary, Phaedra, No Past Lives
This was like, a severely unexpected change after Baths' first album, going from cute ambient music to his emo era, but honestly it's a super refreshing change, this thing sounds absolutely sick.
TOP 3 SONGS: Earth Death, Phaedra, Miasma Sky
1 | Worsening 4:26 | 92 |
2 | Miasma Sky 4:34 | 97 |
3 | Ironworks 4:40 | 96 |
4 | Ossuary 3:52 | 90 |
5 | Incompatible 4:40 | 92 |
6 | No Eyes 4:14 | 89 |
7 | Phaedra 4:52 | 87 |
8 | No Past Lives 3:40 | 86 |
9 | Earth Death 4:34 | 94 |
10 | Inter 3:50 | 89 |
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