Oso Oso – An Exchange of Information Review

Jade Lilitri’s emo outfit Oso Oso is back with a brand-new record, An Exchange of Information. This album sees the band going for a much peppier, bigger sound thanks to producer Dan Maddalone, who, along with Lilitri, put together the record in just two weeks.

This album is also the first record to be released through Hop Along drummer Mark Quinlan’s new record label, Feral Twin, and what a way to kick off your label. The story behind the album is quite sweet, with Quinlan reaching out to Lilitri to see if he’d be able to press some older oso oso records on vinyl, and instead ended up with a full-length record on his hands.

Lilitri, and thus Oso Oso‘s sound, has taken many forms over the years, from raw Midwest emo to indie rock, and even a slightly punkier sound here and there. An Exchange of Information feels like a culmination of all of that, with an emo-pop sound with a slightly grittier edge.

As far as Oso Oso albums go, this is unmistakably an Oso Oso album. That’s what makes Oso Oso great; you can listen to almost any album from their catalogue and what you’ll get is an Oso Oso album. They’ve become almost synonymous with themselves. This is a testament to Lilitri’s writing, and of course, the only current other full-time member of the band, Eddy Rodriguez, adding his guitar parts to flesh out the bones Lilitri laid down on this record.

Although An Exchange of Information was put together in the studio in just two weeks, most of the ideas and melodies were already there. That being said, there’s a certain raw charm to this album. It’s much harder than their last LP, Life Till Bones, pushing the band back to their punkier, emo sound from albums like Real Stories of True People Who Kind Of Looked Like Monsters.

According to Feral Twin, this album is a bit of a who’s who of emo royalty, with members of bands such as Prince Daddy & the Hyena and Pictures of Vernon stopping by to lend their talent to the record (Prince Daddy‘s Kory Gregory screams on someone like that, and Pictures of Vernon‘s Diva Sweetly plays the guitar solo at the end of the days). It’s actually a really nice touch, as this feels very much like a throwback to the band’s earlier work on split records with fellow emo bands on the scene.

For me, this album is up there with the band’s earlier works. While I enjoy their slightly laid-back indie sound, I always gravitate toward the slightly punkier sound from Lilitri and the gang. An Exchange of Information bridges that gap slightly, though, as there are a handful of mellower songs. Tracks like Someone Like That and Trace Me are definitely firm favourites.

An Exchange of Information is a well-rounded album. Musically, it’s fantastic, with an almost perfect blend of heavier emo sounds, slightly mellower indie-rock vibes, and production that hasn’t overly polished the band’s sound. Maddalone has done a great job of bringing a much bigger sound to Oso Oso without losing the band’s charm.

Lyrically, the album takes an almost concept album direction, with Lilitri acting as the narrator for an overarching story, telling the tale of someone whose dreams become delusions, searching for answers to questions they don’t know how to ask, and ultimately becoming downtrodden, losing the magic they once had.