Oh My

Recession pop, hyperpop, electropop, call it what you want - the best of the genre will always come from the makeshift EPs that spring out of its underbelly.

Oh My is one such EP. Accentuated by a hedonistic downtown-club flair, Debbie Sings vividly blends electro house basslines with abrasive vocals to properly realize the makeshift nature of the genre. Her work on this EP is subsequently far removed from the superproduced, over-polished sounds of the trance giants of today - the broiling emotions and chaotic mixes quickly pull off the band-aid on that matter. Even in its more introspective tracks, Oh My doesn't present its sound signature as clean or glossy. It's DIY, and it knows it.

That quality only plays to its strengths. Energy radiates from synthesizer leads and punchy beatwork, liveliness shimmers from engaged vocal processing and digitized sound design, personality and character lock glittery horns with each other for which comes out on top. The deal's made sweeter by Oh My's clear intentions of imitating a rave-floor aesthetic (stacked precariously on top of the personal motifs), packed with four-on-the-floor beats behind a hyperpop sensibility - although, perhaps 'sensible' would not be the right word for this EP. No, it's assertive, it's arrogant, it has every right to be assertive and arrogant. It's not quite got the heavy punch of a truck hurtling across a motorway, but it's a paced-out car ride with the speakers on full volume in a crowded street.

Oh My is not rude or self-sacrificing, though. Even in its shorter length (as compared to a full-scale album), it manages to slip tastefully into more emotional territory. Whilst the party tunes of "Make Your Body Move" and "Sucker Punch", and the brazen "Hotpants", could hit a dancefloor hard and fast, Debbie Sings still makes room for the emotional - almost euphoric - "Sunny Skies" and "Leave This City". This balance is absolutely key. In any record that's made any headway by approaching this aesthetic, or at least a similar one - Ninajirachi's album "I Love My Computer" of last year comes to mind - the intimate must be balanced with the extroverted, and these two tracks allow for just that. Somehow, even being the least intense, these tracks are the sharpest, the most cutting, but the most liberating.

That may, however, be a byproduct of the album's own drawbacks. Though many of the ideas are undoubtedly potent, the record's midsection seems to dull out, making blunt its own edge. Whilst Oh My opens and closes at a razor's edge of danceability and emotion, it seems to lose its sheen as "Music Loves Me" tapers out into a electro house melody that feels, stylistically, a little repetitive. The short track run is fairly inoffensive, but with the project kicking off and ending with ideas that feel refreshing - and well-executed to match - the midsection doesn't quite compare, and lags behind as a result.

What Oh My primarily suffers from, then, is having too much momentum out the gate that it couldn't capitalise on. That cannot discount it from being a strong project in its own right, though - because, well, it is indeed a strong project in its own right. Between the harsh vocal processing and the rhythmic basslines and the drops of emotion that seep through the hedonism, Oh My is still a gratifying listen.

Listen on Spotify here.