Listening to Al Cisneros and Chris Haikus post-Sleep band Om is like entering a realm where meditation and intensity coexist. The drums play a subtle but never simple blend of gentle pounds and reassured beats, while the bass oscillates between heavy riffing and string caressing pulses. It’s music to nod out and headbang to (and yes, it’s also great for smoking pot).
Still, the origin of the band’s sound is attributed to influences beyond rock, music from far off places preserved for centuries by millennial cultures. It seems that critics visit the “new age and world music” section of the record store to get references to where Om got their stuff. Having said that, here’s two older songs that are far closer to music geekery than ancient spiritual faiths that are the granddaddies to the their first three albums.
Yes’ classic album Fragile closes with one of their best songs, and there’s a fragment of the song where Chris Squier and Bill Bruford, for one brief moment, get their instruments locked in a gentle battle for us to breathe and feel the pulses of our circulatory system. Yes had always dabbled in ethereal realms, but “Heart of the Sunrise” does it with frenetic energy that goes beyond the drum and bass break.
The other is “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” by Pink Floyd. Saucerful of Secrets is a collage of different things, but this song is pure Om, right down to Roger Waters’ vocalizations. It’s right there, the stoner doom style in 1967.
In a way, I like to think of Om’s first three albums as a trilogy. Variations on a Theme presented Om as a continuation to the last phase of Sleep. It’s heavy and repetitive with some hushed tones that hint on Conference of Birds, where things get settled and sets a peaceful mood only to be disturbed by aggressive points. Pilgrimage is the climax, the grand finale, where everything explodes in their own way, things get shorter and there’s more variety. It’s a fitting conclusion to music that cycle and grind in equal measures.
