Stream: O Future, ‘Voyeur’

Kevin Bronson on November 16th, 2019

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L.A.-based duo O Future released two albums and worked on several film scores under the name OOFJ, but now they’ve fully transitioned to their new moniker and this week released their new album “Voyeur.”

The music combines the talents of composer-multi-instrumentalist Jens Bjornkjaer, originally from Denmark, and vocalist Katherine Mills Rymer, originally from South Africa. Bjornkjaer, classically trained on violin, educated in jazz and with an extensive background in production, is the architect of O Future’s orchestral electronic (or symphonic synth, if you will) sound, playing guitars, keys, bass, drums, saxophone, trumpet, flute and, he points out, computers. Lyricist Rymer, who has a background in acting, possesses a flair for wordplay to go with her cirrocumulus vocals.

Indeed, “Voyeur’s” songs move like cloud formations, seemingly changing hues as Rymer sings (mostly) about intimacy in the most cinematic way imaginable. Sune Rose Wagner of the Ravonettes (on “Crystal Shiny”) and Matt Popieluch of Big Search (on “Clothes Off”) guest on the album, which also features percussion by Trentemøller drummer Jakob Hoyer.

The duo also has a host of ongoing film work (plus they are working on an “algorithmic opera” with the graphic design team SULSOLSAL), but “Voyeur” could almost be an experimental film itself — one in which the protagonist feels trapped in, and then succumbs to, modern relationship dynamics. Whatever happens during the symphonic grandeur of “Bronze” seems like it might be life-changing.

||| Watch: The videos for “Telephone” and “Spy”