Sweden’s stalwart, slow burning post-rock outfit Oh Hiroshima returns to champion wonder and awe in an age of faded youth and jaded disenchantment. “All Things Shining”, the band’s fifth studio album, now confirmed for release on June 28th, 2024, through Pelagic Records, sees the project pared back to its brotherly core as they expand ever further into new sonic territories.
Founded over fifteen years ago as a DIY recording project by brothers Jakob and Oskar Hemström, Oh Hiroshima has outgrown their Swedish hometown of Kristinehamn to become a highly regarded studio and live project within the international post-rock scene. With four diverse full-length albums to their name encompassing elements of shoegaze, electronica, post-punk, and danceable indie-rock, Oh Hiroshima’s “All Things Shining” represents a significant evolution in the band’s songwriting and soundcrafting.
It was the band’s sophomore album, 2015’s “In Silence We Yearn”, that brought Oh Hiroshima to the fore, attracting significant attention on YouTube and leading to the physical re-releases of “In Silence We Yearn”, as well as their 2011 debut album “Resistance is Futile”, through Napalm Records. Buoyed by the support of a label and their ever-growing fanbase, 2019’s “Oscillation” album marked a significant leap forward in terms of both songwriting and production as the band became so much more than a bedroom project between brothers…
Having released their fourth album, “Myriad” – a brooding kaleidoscope of thunderous drums, reverberating guitar feedback, and ethereal synth sounds courtesy of fellow countryman Kristian Karlsson (Cult Of Luna, pg.lost, Soars) – to critical acclaim in 2022, “All Things Shining” is Oh Hiroshima refining this complex sound further still. Already renowned for their command of panoramic compositional atmospherics, this new collection of songs consciously leaves space for singer and guitarist Jakob’s lyrics and vocal delivery and brings a striking yet delicate tenderness to the band’s formidable sonic palette.
Collaborating once again with Kristian Karlsson as well as producer Magnus Lindberg, the brothers Hemström embraced the challenge of their lineup change to push themselves into uncharted creative space, to make the very best of their tight knit bond. As such, “All Things Shining” wrestles with questions surrounding purpose, meaning and a generational ambivalence spreading across Western society.
Wasting no time, opening track and lead single “Wild Iris” gets straight to the point as the band’s most urgent and insistent work to date. A driving, half-time groove introduces Jakob’s seemingly innocuous opening line of, “My friends are ordinary”, before it’s turned into a cautionary tale against mediocrity by the refrain of, “It’s been way too long since lightning struck right through you”, that brings with it a reinvigorated wave of Oh Hiroshima’s thunderous post-rock prowess. The accompanying video captures this latent crisis with a collision of dynamic live footage of the brothers in action against anonymous characters wasting away on a steady diet of nothing.
Simultaneously personal and universal, “Wild Iris” begins a sonic exploration of the duplicitous nature of ageing; the double-edged sword of amassing life-affirming experiences that inevitably dim our perception of the world around us. However, as the album’s title suggests, Oh Hiroshima is adamant that all is not lost; with songs inspired by timeless works of literature pivotal for Jakob and Oskar throughout their lives, “All Things Shining” is a reminder that, against all odds, the world will always find a way to reclaim its spark and mystique.
Jakob Hemström comments on “Wild Iris”: “This track goes straight to the point more than anything we’ve ever done before while still retaining our love for atmosphere. The lyrics are in the same vein, and the accompanying music video aims to capture and expand both the lyrical and sonic aspects of the song”.
“Wild Iris” was filmed by Oskar Nilsson, Jakob Hemström, and Jan Nilsson, directed by Nilsson and Hemström, and edited by Nilsson, and features actors John Persson, Carina Persson, Hannes Pozo-Maxstad, and Viola Fahlén.
Watch the official video for “Wild Iris” below.
For fans of This Will Destroy You, Mono, Caspian, God Is An Astronaut, Do Make Say Think, Cult Of Luna, Mogwai, and the like, Oh Hiroshima is a must-hear band.
Pelagic Records will release “All Things Shining” on CD, LP and digital formats. Find preorders here.
Tracklist:
1. Wild Iris
2. Holiness Movement
3. Swans In A Field
4. Secret Youth
5. Rite Of Passage
6. Deluge
7. Leave Us Behind
8. Memorabilia
Line-up:
Jakob Hemström – Guitar, vocals
Oskar Hemström – Drums
Weblinks:
ohhiroshima.com
www.facebook.com/ohhiroshima
