A longtime fixture in the Boston music scene with ambient-pop duo Matters & Dunaway and the skygazing rock band Endless Wave, electronic music producer André Obin experienced a breakthrough last year, both in songwriting craftsmanship and global recognition, with The Arsonist LP.
Though the songs were written and recorded over a period of five years, the title and its title track drew from Obin’s personal experiences surviving a 2012 fire in his Somerville/Cambridge-line apartment. A minimalist by nature, the ordeal left Obin with an even tighter network of relationships, a stronger disdain for material goods, and an even sharper focus on his intense brand of forward-thinking music.
When a tragedy strikes a certain type of creative mind, the opportunity to re-build and re-emerge arises, and Obin now returns to the fold April 29 with his second LP (again via New York’s Sky Council Records, distributed by Sony MRI), titled Ways of Escape. While we’ve already heard the textured synthpop of first single “Approaching Zero (via Impose Magazine) and club-land darkwave of “Loaded Soul” (thank you, Bullett Media), we are honored to premiere our personal favorite selection off Ways of Escape, the majestic “Watermark.”
The track blossoms like the morning sun until it reaches a glistening climax of emotive pop, not unlike the finer tracks on the Drive soundtrack and the West Coast revival of stark electro-pop. It’s a slow-burning thriller that unfolds and rises over six minutes, and tucked towards the end of Ways Of Escape, almost represents a sort of new beginning.
It feels like a reawakening, and in a rare moment for an Obin composition, there’s a relative feeling of positivity through the darkness. There’s often a feeling of “We’re fucked” in Obin’s productions, both musically and lyrically, but here on “Watermark,” it feels like despite the struggles of life and al that are thrown our way, we’re somehow gonna be alright.
“Tears fall down like water, tears fall down like rain,” Obin offers as “Watermark” approaches its height, before reassuring: “And that’s okay.”
Listen to the brilliant “Watermark” below, then find Obin’s upcoming tour dates after the Soundcloud jump.
André Obin Upcoming Dates
April 25: Radio Bushwick – Brooklyn NY (album release show)
May 21: Middlesex – Cambridge MA
May 24: Tropicalia – Washington DC
May 29: Machines with Magnets – Providence RI
