My Octopus Mind – Trying To Be Normal | Album Review

Should Trying To Be Normal be My Octopus Mind’s mission statement here, then they have absolutely failed their objective. However, this is the only fashion in which one could describe this record as an abject failure.

The new record from the Bristolian psych-proggers, Trying To Be Normal – despite it’s namesake – does not see this band abandon the qualities that have made so alluring in the first place; and thank goodness for it. For those yet to be quantitated with this act, My Octopus Mind are a collectively neuro-diverse unit entirely devoted to forgoing convention in favour of authentically articulating themselves via progressive balkan rhythms, psych-tinged wonkiness and a sense of swagger that’s somehow both suave and awkward. One could easily compare them to the likes of The Guru Guru or Snõõper in terms of unique idiosyncrasy, but to even compare the band to like-minded contemporaries feels limiting. They’re distinctively their own entity, and nothing highlights this more than this weird and most wonderful record.

‘Made Outta Gold’, the record’s opener, both highlights the record’s surrealist nature and reflects upon the conventions constructing this body of work with it’s title. Comprised of pulverising double bass, twinkling fretwork, post-punk-akin poetic rambling and a permeating sense of eccentricity that’s intriguing, endearing and somewhat eerie, the track doesn’t introduce the record as much as it sucks in one into the outlandish world My Octopus World inhabit. It’s quintessentially impossible to really reflect upon the mundane nature of reality when listening to this or the consecutive punchy absurdity of ‘High Roller’ and the minimalist swaggering unease of ‘Maiden Of Honour’. In fact, with it’s brilliant escapist qualities, listening to be normal is the musical equivalent of getting haplessly pulled into the fantastical word of Alice Of Wonderland; expect one is being greeted not by the Cheshire cat, but someone in harem pants positively slaying a double bass.

It must be stressed however that this sense of strangeness is not forced. Rather, it’s completely intrinsic. Many a band may be attempting to peddle strange new sounds in order to rise above the mire, but with this record shows how such attempts can be contrived in thanks to it’s brilliant fluidity. Indeed, as the record progresses, it almost becomes like a warped and alien stream of conscious from a collective mind we can barely perceive. The aforementioned tropes do ultimately basis of each song, but as seen within the liquid-esque transition between instrumental soundscape of ‘Converse Converse’ and the humid noodling of ‘Draining The Swamp’ and merge from noisy post-punk digressions of ‘Minor Celebrity’ and the flexing riffs of ‘Wandering Alone’, the record ebbs and flows on it’s own accord in a fashion that’s organically lifelike. There’s no forced or fraudulent chemistry here, just experimental magic being conducted in real time.

Longterm fans of this act will see some slight differences between Trying To Be Normal and My Octopus Mind’s previous LPs however. Whilst the band’s previous records do see the band practing more extended and slightly more meandering cuts, this record see’s the band trying to compress their take on musical weirdness to more standard track lengths. It’s where the title of the album arises from, and whilst forced musical experimentalism may be at odds with the band’s artistic ethos and character, these more snappy tracks do work wonders. Lead single, ‘Moving Slow’ bares witness to it, with it’s almost three and minute runtime concisely seeing the band addressing the conflict between their individuality and the expectations of society in a way that’s sly, relatable and almost conceptually meta.

In all though, Trying To Be Normal certainly is not a record for everyone. It’s uncompromisingly weird, surrealist in every way and unapologetically unique. For some people, this listen may be a challenge. But for those longing for true musical forays into the world of the bizarre unhindered by the expectations of others or the looming industry at large, this is a must listen. Here, My Octopus Mind have not only created a wonderful body of work that’s uniquely a product of themselves, but they have contributed their unique howl to the chorus of noise originating from the zoo that is the national experimental scene.