Or Best Offer’s dissembling “from which center?” is out today. A descendant of Gastr Del Sol’s innovative combination of post-rock and experimentalism, the song starts on Grace Schmidhauser’s frail vocal line before slowly building into a maelstrom. Brian Culligan adds drums like fine spices, accenting the most intense moments with inventive percussive. Center (Ba Da Bing), out next Friday, January 26th, 2024..

Schmidhauser on “from which center?”:

This was the first of the batch of songs that would become this album, so I consider it a sort of mother– of me, of this project, and of a new, more loose and associative way of writing and collaborating between Brian and I. It tumbled into existence and presented itself to me as a balm, a messy mission statement. The rest of the project cascaded very naturally from its center; the song is about listening for the voices of objects, making a small room into a home, the benevolent hallucinations and wonder that can emerge in solitude, letting yourself be known, learning how to apologize, and reading the Bible as a form of flirtation.

Or Best Offer approaches its songs like rituals. Inspired by noisers like Hop Along, Unwound, and  Wednesday, their compositions result from controlled artistry; using a basic song framework, they circle and step over each other, overdubbing, layering and obliterating sounds. Grace’s voice is raw and powerful, every growl and vibrato rich with intention. Center is punctuated by purposeful rhythmic deviations and distortions, yet, beauty and gentleness often rise through the clamor. Metallic collisions oscillate between delicate plucked, nylon string guitars, and unvarnished, clear vocal delivery, allowing the songs to form their own narratives.

From their makeshift studio in Ridgewood, Queens, Grace and Brian created instruments, like a ukelele played with a drill, and assembled radios and children’s instruments. Among its inventions is a light theremin – a sound wand that responds to light in the room. With compositions resulting from controlled artistry, basic songwork frames build into full-on breakdowns. Throughout, the band’s musical bond is palpable.

Center embraces mysticism and directness, Grace offering poetic fragments that shake with vulnerability. Or Best Offer finds spirituality in isolation, dignity in the pathetic, and humor in distress. Humility and connection rest at the forefront of Or Best Offer’s experimentalism.