Ohmme – the Chicago-based band of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart – will release their new album, Fantasize Your Ghost, on June 5th via Joyful Noise Recordings, and today present their lead single/video, “3 2 4 3.” In conjunction, they announce their SXSW appearances and a North American tour (find tickets at ohmmemusic.com/tour). FantasizeYour Ghost is the stunning and muscular follow-up to their 2018 debut Parts. Following intensive tours with acts like Wilco, Iron & Wine, Twin Peaks, and more, Fantasize Your Ghost is the direct result of the band spending more time on the road than in Chicago. It’s deeply concerned with questions of the self, the future, and what home means when you’re travelling all the time.
“3 2 4 3” tackles the terrifying realization of needing to make a change. The song opens with the two singing in transfixing harmony, “Looked in the mirror the other day / Caught my reflection / My mouth had moved a different way / The muscles were straining.” Their deft scene-setting and the way their disparate voices blend together heightens the song’s inherent anxiety. Its accompanying video, filmed in Mexico City and directed by Alejandra Villalba García, features the pair.
“Sima and Macie explained to me that the song was about seeing the landscape/neighborhood change in front of your eyes even though you don’t want it to change,” says García. “I thought that the first half of the video should be about them staying still trying to resist change as the scenery around them changes quickly. The tall dark figure represents change and how it keeps getting closer to them until there’s no escape. When they fight with another version of themselves, the newer versions are the ones that win because they embrace change.”
Early sketches of Fantasize Your Ghost‘s tracklist were demoed at Sam Evian‘s Flying Cloud Studios in upstate New York through intensely collaborative and open sessions. The album was recorded over a six day session in August 2019 when the band decamped to the Post Farm in southern Wisconsin, where Cunningham runs a yearly DIY music festival. With indie rock journeyman producer Chris Cohen and the idyllic setting just outside Chicago, the songs came to vibrant life.
Though Parts showcased their wildly burgeoning influences and talents, Fantasize Your Ghost captures the astounding magnetism and ferocity of their live show. At times they reference simpler times, like summertime hotdogs and wandering the city, and in others, they are explosive, dystopian dance rockers. It encapsulates the thrilling and sometimes terrifying joy of moving forward even if you don’t know where you’re going. It’s an album that asks necessary questions: When life demands a crossroads, what version of yourself are you going to pursue? What part of yourself will you feed and let flourish and what do you have to let go of? When they sing, “Just walk out the door and / Don’t tell them goodbye” it’s drastic but also exhilaratingly hopeful. This is a record of strength, of best friends believing in each other. Unapologetic and brave, Ohmme are ready to figure it all out together.
Head Honcho, Editor in Chief and writer here on VENTS. I don't like walking on the beach, but I love playing the guitar and geeking out about music. I am also a movie maniac and 6 hours sleeper.
Head Honcho, Editor in Chief and writer here on VENTS. I don't like walking on the beach, but I love playing the guitar and geeking out about music. I am also a movie maniac and 6 hours sleeper.