After several years of nearly non-stop touring with a wildly infectious live show, The Octopus Project has risen to the challenge of capturing that energy and creativity in the studio, and band's third proper full-length is a bold step forward musically and artistically. With ragged, furious distorted guitars at one end of the spectrum and the pure, luminescent tones of the Theremin at the other, "Hello, Avalanche" mines a staggering variety of sounds, bursting with brilliant contrasting colors and cascading waves of sonic bliss.
Although members Josh Lambert, Yvonne Lambert and Toto Miranda each have their instrumental specialties, they spread ideas out on as many instruments as possible, each writing for and performing on any sound-maker they can find. And if the instruments themselves weren't enough, many sounds were manipulated to push them even further - inhuman drum breaks three layers deep piled over live drums, guitar parts mulched into bits and reassembled into a tiny Prince army, and sequenced beats, edited loops and practice space demos spliced with studio recordings to achieve the perfect blend between high-end studio trickery and lo-fi home experimentation.
From gentle vibes and heavenly Theremin choirs to jaunty basslines and electro-static glitch-grooves to a wailing din of dying guitars and break-neck percussion, "Hello, Avalanche" is indeed a welcome disaster, an enchanting sonic cataclysm.