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Managers

by Oblivz

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1.
I knock but nobody's home / Oh, I'm looking for some company from you only / Got work, I can't live alone / But my roommate doesn't know me, so we're lonely / I'm gonna go where we're not so unknown / Everyone's somebody somewhere / I'm leaving it up in the air to get away a better way / The cover's kind of a lot, it gets busy there and Thursday is a work day / I'd only stand in one spot while the voices swirl in stereo / (I'd get wasted, though) / I'm gonna go where it's not overgrown / Back to the middle of nowhere / I'm leaving it up in the air to get away a better way / Now I'm not where you are / It's not like we're stars, so let's find somewhere that's ours / Where we can do, do what we want / We're not in the shot / This ain't no biopic / I'm leaving it up in the air to get away a better way
2.
Dr. Y 03:14
Is that really Dr. Y, is that really Dr. Y in your contacts? / Are you calling Dr. Y while he's sweating through his clothes from the anthrax? / Here at ThirdCure Labs we don't have the time for these sorts of distractions / Is that really Dr. Y, is that really Dr. Y in your contacts? / Are you letting Dr. Y and the ulcer on his neck come between us? / Do you think of Dr. Y while you're temping, testing samples for peanuts? / Here at ThirdCure these pursuits can result in a written infraction / Are you letting Dr. Y and the dead look in his eyes come between us? / Is that really Dr. Y? / Are you letting Dr. Y and his failing body steal your attention? / If you're too preoccupied and you're unproductive, that means suspension / Per the ThirdCure handbook, you're here to work. We don't need a reaction / Are you letting Dr. Y and his giant abscess steal your attention? / Is that really Dr. Y? / Is that really Dr. Y? / You have a job, and that's to innovate / Put on your lab coat, and go do what makes us great
3.
Out of Time 04:18
We're afraid you're out of time / In the way and out of time / First you'll meet the registrar / Make sure you are who you are / Fingerprints, signatures / Down this hallway, prisoner / We're afraid you're out of time / In the way and out of time / There's a lengthy list with the boxes checked so the rules apply / It's all protocol and we don't care whether you live or die / So you'll see no pitchforks, and no we won't let a mob convene / We'll confirm you're gone and we'll wipe your blood off the guillotine / We're afraid you're out of time / In the way and out of time / Watermarked, notarized / Local churches notified / Thousand pages of nixed appeals / Cover letter, golden seal / Photocopies for the boss / I's are dotted, T's are crossed / This is our office, give it a glance / Last one before the endless expanse / Cabinets you'll be filed in / Managers, filing forms, pushing paper / It's an elegant process, nothing to chance / Yes, you'll comply, and thanks in advance / Page after page of small print / Managers, filing forms, pushing paper / We're afraid you're out of time / In the way and out of time
4.
It's nice to see your face again / It's been so long, and I don't know when / I felt like I still had a friend / I'd like to see you smile / We came upon a frozen lake / Where I confessed a big mistake / My breath made clouds and flew away / With no one around for miles / It's nice to see your face again / It's been so long and I don't know when / I saw you last. I miss my friend / I'd like to see you smile / I lied / I lied / A hundred times / I left your side / I'd hide / I'd hide / I'd disappear / As if I'd died / It's nice to see your face again / And oh, how weird this year has been / It's way past time to make amends / I'd like to see you smile
5.
Coronet 03:05
We had the mouths of jaguars painted on a train / Like sharpened Roman aqueducts bursting in the rain / We're microdosing panda blood / Coronet, coronet, we tried to keep the story straight / Coronet, coronet, we were born already / Coronet, coronet / We drew a second Altamont, penciled on a plank / We nailed it to an abacus / Coronet, coronet, we tried to keep the story straight / Coronet, coronet, we were born already / Coronet, coronet / Made to play make-believe / Burdened, bent, but storyboarded / First one here, last to leave / Coronet, it's been awarded

about

"After over a decade of marking post-punk/power pop-inspired indie rock as half of Fox Japan, the duo of Charlie Wilmoth and Andrew Slater have formally forged something different with Oblivz. The group’s debut EP was 2021’s Uplifts, but its follow-up Managers sounds like a commitment to the newer group, the debut of Oblivz as something more than a 'Fox Japan side project.' The songs sound fuller and denser, with Slater and Wilmoth finding a New Order-ish medium between guitar rock and electronic music. The black humor and undercurrents of corporate unrest and horror that marked Uplifts and Fox Japan are both present in Managers, particularly in the grim execution bureaucracy of 'Out of Time' and the manic 'Dr. Y,' and even in the disco-flavored synthpop banger 'Up in the Air,' Wilmoth finds a way to touch on feeling isolated in the middle of the bustle." -- Rosy Overdrive, naming Managers their second-favorite EP of 2022

It isn't easy to say what Managers, Oblivz's second release, is ... pop? Indie rock? Post-punk? With influences ranging from ABBA to Devo to Prince to prog to Minimalism, Managers brims with musical and lyrical ambition, and its melodies and imagery linger long after the songs finish playing.

"Up in the Air," with its jagged bassline, disco strings, and lyrics about feeling alone in a big city, is the pop banger here. But the EP revolves around two harder-to-categorize songs about middle managers performing their job duties exactly as they’re meant to, and with maximum cruelty.

In the sinuous "Dr. Y," a boss scolds and threatens a pharmaceutical-company temp for worrying about a coworker dying of anthrax poisoning. The boss ends the conversation with an inane corporate pep talk.

Then, over a thundering church organ and waves of harpsichord arpeggios, the narrator of "Out of Time" tells an inmate how his impending execution will proceed. The lyric centers not the prisoner himself, but the layers of bureaucracy that will lead to his death. (The song was inspired in part by a horrifying detail from Jesse Ball's novel Silence Once Begun, in which a condemned man is required to sign a paper affirming that he is the person who is to be killed.)

The postmodern ballad "It's Nice to See Your Face Again" might be about a dishonest ex or the pandemic or both, and "Coronet" combines an angular guitar riff with surrealistic, portentous lyrics.

Oblivz's Charlie Wilmoth and Andrew Slater explored similarly dark lyrical themes in a series of albums with their indie-rock band Fox Japan. But here, the music that accompanies these themes points in as many directions as the words themselves, reflecting changes in the way the pair usually work. Wilmoth and Slater are both classically trained, and Managers was mostly written in musical notation, with Slater playing many of the instruments from sheet music. Managers showcases Wilmoth and Slater’s increasingly idiosyncratic vision with greater clarity than ever before.

credits

released May 23, 2022

Made in 2021 and 2022 by Andrew Slater in Waterville, Maine, and Charlie Wilmoth in Los Angeles

Mixed by Andrew Slater

Mastered by Mike Bridavsky / Russian Recording

Art by Cynthia Alfonso (www.instagram.com/zyn_vaites/)

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about

Oblivz Los Angeles, California

Oblivz is Charlie Wilmoth and Andrew Slater, who also play in the indie-rock band Fox Japan.

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