Rick Baker Sober CD

2004/5:Viir Exeter, of Oxygen Law, has composed the original score for The Boles Murders, a major motion picture about an entire family that was brutally murdered in their exclusive California resort home in 1965. Private Investigator, Steve Hodel, New York Times best-selling author of, The Black Dahlia Avenger, is among the many who give expert insights into the notorious murders. The case remains unsolved to this day.

Oxygen LawLe Vestibule EPreviewed by Matthew Heilman of Starvox, PhiladelphiaHailing from California, Oxygen Law's most recent EP was an interesting offering to say the very least. I was pleasantly won over by the nostalgic shades of vintage 4AD elements that could be found in the grayed synths and modest electronics of the first half of this EP. The title tracks are pretty cool, the LP version of the song being a bit more punchy than the extended version, but both feature a delightful mix of slow old school drum machines and swirling orchestration. "Perihelion" is perhaps a better and more solid example of what Oxygen Law is capable of. A plodding, tense track that centers around a steady rhythmic pulse, a smooth bass line, and moody male vocals. This track in particular vaguely recalls early Clan Of Xymox, and it is kind of cool that a band is more conscious of atmosphere than BPM's, the way early dark electronic bands were.

And indeed, Oxygen Law is conscious of atmosphere. Citing not only 4AD artists as creative influences, they also site the Brontë sisters and Edgar Allan Poe as musical muses, and indeed the misty moors and stark psychology of those authors cast a favourable shadow over the band. Somewhat in the more 'electronic' friendly tracks but this influence is clearer on the EP's two epic instrumental tracks.