There’s something gloriously unfashionable about OREAGANOMICS. Twenty years underground, still lo-fi by choice rather than budget, still refusing to sand off the rough edges for anyone’s playlist algorithm. LOCKED OUT ON VALENTINE’S DAY kicks the door in, spills its drink on your shoes, and then lectures you about capitalism while the band warms up behind it. It’s messy, funny, occasionally brilliant, and sometimes frustrating — which feels entirely on purpose.
Next Meal opens the record like a half-sarcastic manifesto, all elastic groove and lived-in synth beats, the band sounding like they’ve played this song in grimy rooms for years and learned exactly where to leave space. There’s an immediacy to it that pulls you in fast, the jazz inflections never showing off, just nudging the rhythm sideways. Work Not Heart doubles down on that cynicism, its soul-drenched delivery landing somewhere between protest chant and late-night confession, the lyrics cutting closer because they’re not dressed up as slogans. Addicted to Emotions is where the album first really stretches out, the band letting the groove breathe, accordian and keys circling each other like they’re daring someone to blink first.
Equal Wrongs and Tame sit in an interesting middle ground. They’re tight, well-rehearsed, and dripping in attitude, but they also hint at one of the album’s weaknesses: sometimes OREAGANOMICS lean so hard into vibe that the songs blur into one another. The playing is excellent, no question, but you occasionally wish for a sharper hook or a moment that really lodges itself in your skull. Venus, thankfully, answers that call, swinging with a sly confidence and a melodic looseness that feels genuinely seductive without tipping into parody.
Pull Me Under and Love Thy Enemy push the band’s worldview front and centre. The soul elements here aren’t celebratory so much as confrontational, grooves built to carry uncomfortable truths rather than dancefloor euphoria. It works best when the band trusts the music to do the heavy lifting. On Pull Me Under especially, there’s a sense they could have stripped the lyrics back slightly and let the tension speak louder. As it stands, it’s powerful, but a touch crowded.
I Hate Me Too is one of the album’s strongest moments, self-lacerating without turning self-pitying, the soul influence doing exactly what soul should do: making the mess feel human. Winners Write keeps the momentum going, its cynical humour landing with a grin rather than a snarl, while Burn for No Reason leans fully into a sludgy reverb drenched symphony end of their palette, all simmering restraint and slow-release frustration
By the time Gotta Habit Gotta Have It rolls around, you can feel the weight of the record’s length. There’s no doubt OREAGANOMICS have earned their endurance, but this is where editing might have helped. The groove is solid, the intent clear, but it doesn’t quite justify its place as strongly as earlier tracks. Was Great Now Good closes things out on a more reflective note, sounding like a band aware of their own history, their own compromises, and the strange peace that comes with surviving the system without ever really fitting into it.
LOCKED OUT ON VALENTINE’S DAY is not a neat album, and it absolutely shouldn’t be. What it does well — groove, honesty, lived-in funk and soul with a jazz backbone — it does with conviction. Where it falters is in discipline; a few songs could hit harder with tighter focus. Still, there’s something refreshing about a band this uninterested in chasing relevance. OREAGANOMICS aren’t here to be saved, accepted, or fixed. They’re here to play, to rant, to groove, and to remind you that being fucked by the system doesn’t mean you can’t dance while it happens.
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