Otto - Clam Day (2020)

Those voices become even more prominent on Otto's upcoming full-length album, which leans more into his songwriting capabilities.

"While sprawling, psychedelic tracks like the seven-minute composition 'Microplastics in my Bloodstream' and the taut, elastic opener 'Sprained My Ankle in Gristedes Juice Aisle' continue to showcase Otto's flair for strange electornic textures, he also provides what feels like a parallel universe pop song with the dreamy 'Guess My Crush'. Starting life as a song he wrote on the guitar, 'Guess My Crush' is "just 4 sine waves slightly detuned," explains Otto, "which I find really fascinating. It's one of the most low-level simple sounds one could synthesize - but it gave me this incredibly peaceful feeling and I knew that I had finally found a song or sound that I could use to channel a lot of very specific feelings into." Otto's music may sound playful, but it also reveals his preoccupation with the idea of material (especially electronic) waste, and so a vague sense of decay and dread clings to the fringes of his songs.

Imagine the face of a cartoon character staring at you from beneath the translucent sheen of a trash bag – that's the funny-yet-grim space that Otto's music occupies. "I find it funny and also very troubling that 15-20 years after all of this kids' media, there are still bits and pieces of these obsolete franchises drifting around in the form of cheap plastic shit, now in landfills and contributing to lakes of toxic leachate," he reflects. "It's something I feel pretty stressed out about." That very real anxiety gives Otto's songs a sinister edge: those corporate sprites can often sound like they're taunting you, and soothing tones can shift to something more sombre in barely a beat. That discomfort is part of the joy of Otto's strange, bristling music. His songs never make clear exactly how you're meant to feel – what would be the fun in that?"