Onesie - Umpteenth

I committed to a review per day in June for a number of reasons. Mainly, due to being way behind this year, but also as a reaction to a conversation with someone who asked if I cover anything bar Power Pop. I would strongly suggest that the person looks more into what IDHAS does to realise that I Don't Hear A Single celebrates a lot more than that.

Throughout this first week, I think you've already seen the variance on offer and as we reach Onesie, I think you can hear here what is the real love of my life. That is Angular, Clever, Left Field Pop that sits somewhere between Psych Pop and Pop Rock. Onesie are definitely that and Umpteenth is an absolute stormer of an album.








The Brooklyn quartet offer up a wonderful mix of songs that evoke memories of the much missed The Sugarplastic. It must be in the "Ben's" for Ben Eshbach read Onesie main man, Ben Haberland. I could mention XTC, but too many do.


A starting point would be Would You Be My Goon? These three and a half minutes sum up Onesie perfectly. A multitude of ideas and chord changes are present without ever losing the point of the song. Generally, the album's lyrics focus on the mundane whilst surrounding these words with incredibly original arrangements.






You have the Fuzz Rock of  Legacy Act, yet Coin Op has undertones of Devoto era Buzzcocks. Customers is a mix of The Futureheads and 90's College Riff Rock. Final Days Of Nineteen is pure Sugarplastic, Vanity Plates has a Jonathan Richman drawl with a killer hook. Have you got the gist yet? Across these 11 songs there is so much variety and each has so many ideas fighting to get out.

The real thing that shines through is the lyrical excellence of these gems, the unexpected couplets are many and manage to heighten your enjoyment of Umpteenth. I have embedded three songs to hopefully underline how great the albums is. To be honest I could have chosen any, the album is that good.






This album will be high up on my Best Of 2019 list. It's an incredibly good album, one of the best things that I've heard in ages. You can listen to and buy the album here. The Vinyl release is a bargain 15 dollars and the Cassette is a ridiculous 5 dollars.


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