What started out – in the eyes of many punters – as a bit of a novelty project, The Omnific have systematically dismantled any and all preconceived notions about a persons ability to produce music that is not considered conventional.
The Omnific are not merely an instrumental band, they are an instrumental band comprising two bass players and a drummer. Their music is exciting, intense and quite simply beautiful in nature, utilizing the bottom end sounds normally associated with the bass and morphing them into a lead sound of their own that is as unique as it is crushing in parts.
Over the course of their five year existence The Omnific have released a couple of EP’s that hinted at the extreme talent coursing through their members veins, and have now manifested that output into their debut album Escapades which is out now.
The two men who provide the bass lines, Matt Fackrell and Toby Peterson-Stewart sat down with HEAVY earlier this week to discuss the album and it’s reception to date.
“(It’s been) surreal,” Matt enthused. “I guess if you look back five years when we started this band we never thought we would be at a point where people were respecting the two bass idea. It's been surreal."
Already the terms “atmospheric”, “euphoric”, “melancholic” and “swirling textures” have been used to describe the sound on Escapades, but the two band members see it in more simplistic terms.
"The broad term is we've just used the bass in various ways,” laughed Toby. “That's probably the easiest way. There's a lot of different techniques we've used and different tones which encompasses all the bass we have used."
And what are some of those styles?
"A bit of everything,” Toby continued. “Some slap, thumb stuff, finger stuff, tapping... the list can go on. Plus, all the different bass guitars themselves that we used have fused their way into their own place on the album. I wouldn’t say we've invented anything, but we've tried to use it in our own way."
In the full interview Matt and Toby talk more about the songs on the album, run through the process of selecting songs for a debut album, shed like on the term “nintendocore” used to describe the tone, the mixing of genres and how they work, musical challenges posed by being an instrumental band, naming songs without lyrics to draw from, upcoming shows and more.