I did some pinch-hitter guitar work for a band called Ohm once. Only they didn't have an 'h'. Or an 'O', for that matter. Then, because they didn't want to be stuck with just 'M' (presumably they weren't Fritz Lang fans), they added a couple of vowels and made it 'Aum'. Try pronounce that, it just sounds like someone stalling for time till they think of a real name.

Granted, this Ohm: has a better pedigree, considering that it was founded by original Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland, renowned bassman Robertino Pagliari, and currently aided on the drums by one Kofi Baker, who isn't exactly short on pedigree himself. It wasn't really certain what the output would end up sounding like, so when it turned out to be a quirky mishmash of jazz, pop and rock that flirted both with the atonal and melodic, no one was that surprised. Or disappointed.

The thing about Ohm: is that the music is deceptively familiar, but at the same time totally weird. There'll be these melodies going on which make you think, "Man I totally know this from somewhere!" when you actually don't, and they'll also have really unconventional stuff happening all around it. They've streamlined the sound for this album, stripping out most of the completely atonal parts and keeping the material light and catchy. If anything, this makes it even better.

The album opens up boisterously enough with Fun House, which starts going the slick laidback jazz-rock way, but then shifts up to a quirky hustle and bustle session and then switches back and forth like a bipolar mofo. It's not until we get to Photograph that the first real surprise presents itself - they belt out a totally sweet pop-infested tune that almost sounds like a mellow Satch track (if Satch had developed his playing since his iconic guitar anthem days, that is), and they make it stick. From there, they go through a few completely accessible hook-driven songs, including the title track, before returning to their more typical sound. There are a few more unexpected points later on - You Don't Know is a cheeky piece, constructed around the melody from the Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds intro, and Steps from Home has a 'highland music meets blues' feel that'd make it feel right at home in an album like High Tension Wires.

The quality of this outfit is equal parts songwriting and playing, and these guys don't come up short in either. Regarding the latter, it seems like someone's told Baker to chill out a bit, since he's spending a lot of time holding down the groove and not doing those crazy breaks. In fact, he holds out till the fifth song before taking any kind of solo, and even when that comes in, it's played out over the groove and not helter-skelter like a lot of jazz drummers do it. It's not like his crazier style was offensive, but this suits their new mainstream leanings pretty well. Pagliari remains a champ, tackling two fronts at the same time - keeping the rhythm section with Baker and assisting Poland with the melody. Since he's such a monster player, the band has an added flexibility - sometimes Poland freaks out while Pag holds the fort down, and other times he plays the bass upfront over Poland's arpeggios and chord formations. And it's never obtrusive in a 'here's a bass solo' fashion - it just fits in seamlessly. Poland has really come into his own, one of the few players to make the transition from rock to jazz while retaining the balls from the former and embracing the quirkiness of the latter. His playing is distinctive, powerful and fluid all at the same time, and the guy can switch in the blink of an eye to whatever particular feel the song requires at the moment.

It's not like I wasn't expecting this album to be great, but it still blew me away. This band definitely deserves a lot more love.

Label: Tone Center
Year of release: 2008