Concert Review: Deeper & Ohmme

Keller Welton

On September 28th, The Bottleneck presented Chicago natives Deeper & Ohmme. Both bands are on a tour right now heading towards Texas. We had the opportunity to record a live session of both bands here at the KJHK studios, which our lovely Multi-Media team did back-to-back, very impressive.

Deeper is a post-punk band with just a splash of indie rock to bring you sounds reminiscent of the Preoccupations/Viet Cong, and they opened for Ohmme. Their set began with a spacey jam, which included a native land acknowledgment. The set was a high-energy vibe show. More specifically, Deeper’s set was loud and in-your-face at times, others they were in a slower, hazy jam. An early highlight of their set was “Esoteric,” which is a great song to familiarize yourself with the band’s sound.

It was around this time that I noticed the band were all wearing matching navy coveralls, which was pretty cool. Deeper’s set was essentially a run-through of their new album Auto-Pain, save the song “Pink Showers,” which is from their debut album. They put on a strong show, they were tight, their guitars roared, somethin about an apple pie… overall a great show.

Ohmme is a little harder to describe. Traditionally, Ohmme is a guitar duo, but for this show, they had a drummer and a third guitar/flute player. They truly are unlike any other. Ohmme writes intertwining guitar parts, with sudden Sonic Youth-esque spasms. Their melodies float sweetly into abrasive funky choruses. Ohmme’s set was largely based on their third album Fantasize Your Ghost, some highlights being “Selling Candy,” “Mine,” and “Ghost.”

My favorite part of their set was “Spell It Out,” featuring a delayed flute and violin, creating an abstract psychedelic soundscape, which I adored. Additionally, Ohmme covered an obscure David Bowie song, which none of my friends knew the name of. Nevertheless, it was raw and intense. I would put it somewhere between The Burning Spear and The Diamond Sea (Sonic Youth comparison), leaning more towards The Burning Spear.

Images by Ellynn Mayo

After their set officially ended, the main guitar duo came on stage for what I call a “Floor Show”. They sat down and played two more songs with just two guitars. It was like we were at an open-mic, just the crowd, the band, and the wooden floor beneath us all.

Concert Rating: 9/10. Wish I could have moshed.