Track-by-Track: Omega Male

After the beta male here comes the Omega Male. Wait, come back—we’re talking about the latest signing on the ever-inspiring Full Time Hobby imprint, home of beloved indie darlings like Timber Timbre, Tunng, Diagrams and White Denim. Omega Male is comprised of David Best (of Miyagi & Fujiya fame) and Sammy Rubin of Brooklyn laptop rock duo Project Jenny, Project Jan. There’s a touch of prime Momus about their fastidiously executed and reference-heavy electronic pop, at once desperately arch and gleefully peevish. Like most right thinking people, we feel that intelligent pop music bears analysis, hence we pestered the band until they gave us a track-by-track, as explained by David Best. Here it is.

1. Omega Male
“We took our name from this song rather than the other way around. I like the farfisa in it and overall I think it has a bit of a disco-not-disco feel. The words describe the attributes of a typical omega male, who feel it’s safer to not attempt tasks for fear of failure.”

2. Testosterone
“My favorite part of this song is the sound of a bowling ball hitting the skittles toward the end. The rhythm has quite a Bollywood thing going on. When we wrote it we had a dance that went along with it, which was a digging motion manoeuvre. You’d dig, crouch down, then throw whatever imaginary thing that was on the spade over your head. Then do it again. I always picture the dance when I listen to the song.”

3. Uh-pol-uh-jet-ik
“This song is one of the passive aggressive ones… It’s a bit whiny. It was actually one of the very first songs we wrote together. I think the first two were this and “No”, which features more moaning. I like how the title looks with the syllables split up.”

4. You Bore Me to Tears
“This started off with just the piano. I wanted us to write a slow soul ballad. I think it turned out more like a cross between early Dexys Midnight Runners and Serge Gainsbourg, which is obviously no bad thing. The brass was arranged by Sammy. I think this might be my favorite track on the record.”

5. Wax and Glue
“Lyrically this song is about making a voodoo doll of someone you dislike then sticking pins in it.”

6. Blue Narcissus
“This reminds me of a chain gang song. It’s about people who strategically voted for the Liberal Democrats in the last general election to make sure the conservatives didn’t get in. Obviously this backfired when the Lib Dems and the Tories joined forces.”

8. No
“This song is really negative. It’s another passive aggressive number. Musically it has a slight R’n’B feel to it.”

9. Rotten Fruit
“This has a bassline done on a 101 which I like a lot. I was pleased that I rhymed “Baudelaire” with “yeah”. There are some nice idioms going on too… This is one of the ones where the backing vocals were influenced by Christo Redentor.

10. X
“This is probably the most unhinged song in the record.”

Published November 18, 2012. Words by moritz.schmall.