Oum Shatt

The Berlin-based quartet Oum Shatt built an entire world of their own through their music. They combine American surf with Greek Rembetika music, No Wave and oriental influences, and extend their sound even further. That doesn’t however mean musical rambling and getting lost in the void, but is purified by the band and brought to the point. The interlocking, circular single-note guitars, the mantra-like baritone foregrounded by repetitive background choirs and the very individual, wild percussive aesthetics give the album a mystical, at times psychedelic sound.

After their renowned and critically acclaimed Self-Titled 2016 debut, they have released their sophomore OPT OUT in late January 2024. Again a unique and enigmatic record full of surprising twists, turns and headtrips. Jonas Poppe’s often ambiguous, sometimes sarcastic texts address the question of the realization of ideals („I would have quit my job, if I ever had one“) or the failure to do so, as well as love and the housing market, politics, artistic freedom and power structures. As he says: „I found something in between signing and resigning – the bliss of imponderability“.