OM Discusses Its "Pantheistic Meditation-Metal"

Even if they were making overt references, Amos and Cisneros feel like they have no desire to sit down and explain themselves in an annotated fashion for the listener, instead preferring to leave the interpretation of the art to those who press play.

"I think it reduces it and that experience for the audience goes away," Cisneros says about even attempting to explain the bands seemingly cryptic lyrics. "That is for them. That is their discovery of the music. If you don't feel something on the record, don't listen to it. It's really simple. It's very simple."

Nothing about this actually seems radical or mysterious, but in a climate where we are used to being given exhaustive explanations by bands or enthusiasts either through music journalism, commentary tracks, documentaries, and popular non-fiction, telling people to form their own opinions and come to their own conclusions about music feels like a profound statement. It's easy to make accusations of obscurantism, similar to the kind of reaction a band like Cult Ritual or anyone else who rode the wave of "Mysterious Guy Hardcore" a few years ago received. But OM aren't people wearing ski masks and pretending to not have email addresses. The fact that I was able to talk with them is a testament to that. It's just that their explanations for what they do and why they do it are so simple in comparison to the elaborate band narratives you usually read about. I can't imagine this band would make a big deal out of writing an album in a cabin while sick with mono.

To get on the spiritual level of an OM record, maybe every corny musician talking about their passions and inspirations at length is maya, the Sanskrit word for the kinds of illusions that distract us from the universal truth. OM might be a band that is more detached from this, comfortable with the reality that it is what it is and that fans can accept it or go somewhere else. It's like the "we don't care what you think of us" attitude expressed by so many rebellious rock musicians, if only more placid.

If OM doesn't care about something, it's because it doesn't matter.

OM is scheduled to perform Friday, February 15, at Crescent Ballroom.

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