Oasis? That band with the brothers, they're still around? Didn't they have that one song - "Wonder..." something or other - and then fell off? Just kidding people.
If there were a central theme for Oasis' new album, it would be "the bigger, the better." The Manchester, England, natives has gone all out for their seventh studio album and created a sound bigger than anything they've done before.
What makes "Dig Out Your Soul" unique is the way writing duties were divided amongst the band's members. Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher has not been known to be the most democratic of bandleaders (he alone has had a hand in producing each of their albums), but this album is different. Six of the tracks were written by Gallagher, three by his brother Liam Gallagher, and one each by bassist Andy Bell and guitarist Gem Archer.
So production was handled differently, but does it make a difference? The short answer is yes.
Since Noel Gallagher has had the most experience, his work has a certain polish to it - they're bigger, prettier and highly produced. The rest on the other hand are rougher, but it's nice to hear something different.
Back to that "big" word though - listen to the album's opener, "Bag It Up," and you'll know that this is an Oasis album, magnified for today's music scene. It has the rough edge and cockiness of the Oasis of a decade ago that just pounds on and on until it finally swells up into the next track, "The Turning." Just as Coldplay thought big on "Viva La Vida," Oasis takes what people are used to and makes it explode.
The album's lead single, "The Shock of the Lightning," is typical Oasis, with the airy Gallagher vocals, always competing with the instrumentals for audio supremacy, and undeniable, irresistible Brit-rock feel, a trait that the rest of the album shares.
While they may have fallen off the radar in the U.S. in recent years, Oasis is poised to make a statement: 15 years in and they're ready to regain the musical landscape they helped mold.
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