The Oggs - Radiotherapy

Touted on press releases and the band’s website as “a diary of rock’n’roll whimsy,” Radiotherapy is in actuality more akin to a musical prescription for post-relationship depression. Its songs work homeopathically; they cure by commiseration, reminding anyone who’s been laid low by the caprices of Cupid that, hey, you’re not alone. This theme is obviously far from new, and it’s to frontman Matt deGroat’s credit his lyrics manage to avoid both trite wisdom and outright mopery, whether it’s the enervated urgency of lines like “Your laughter it kills me/ Jaded and high/ I need you tonight/ I’m bleeding inside” on the title track, or either extreme of alcoholic escapism on moody rocker “Alcohol” and the gleeful 70’s pop inflected “Get It On.” The remarkably Beatles-y “She’s a Revelation,” is also of interest, though, with the exceptions of the cliched existentialism of “Waiting for the World” and “I Don’t Know,” all the songs of Radiotherapy, taken individually, are pretty spot-on. But there’s the rub. The Oggs flirt with various musical styles throughout (most of them forms of British pop), so that while the majority of the songs play well by themselves, they clash when juxtaposed. This lends the album a patchwork feel, like some kind of musical Frankenstein’s monster, and you’re left with the sense that The Oggs are at the mercy of their influences, rather than in command of them. It’s a shame, really. For a band whose lyrics encourage intimacy, it’s frustrating to be drawn into their world of words while their musical identity remains uncertain - to know quite well where they came from, but have precious little understanding as to who they are. [www.theoggsrock.com]