Odyshape

Reception

"This album has little in common with anything else around at the time, other than the feeling that you're hurtling relentlessly forward into a previously unmapped musical space...It's a very intimate recording, full of sounds they wisely never tried to recreate again, and vocal takes that are often inflected with a heart-crushing vulnerability." "More than the exotic instrumentation, though, it's the extraordinary structures of Odyshape's songs that distinguish it. They don't so much begin and end as ebb and flow in a way that, historically, seems to have bewildered at least as many listeners as it's beguiled."

Track listing

All tracks composed by The Raincoats; except where indicated

1. "Shouting Out Loud" (The Raincoats, Ingrid Weiss) - 4:54
2. "Family Treet" (The Raincoats, Caroline Scott) - 4:12
3. "Only Loved at Night" - 3:32
4. "Dancing in My Head" - 5:26
5. "Odyshape" (The Raincoats, Ingrid Weiss) - 3:37
6. "And Then It's O.K." (The Raincoats, lyrics: Caroline Scott) - 3:05
7. "Baby Song" - 4:54
8. "Red Shoes" - 2:51
9. "Go Away" - 2:23

"Only Loved at Night" was covered by Softboiled Eggies for "Rough Trade - Counter Culture 2008" compilation.

Personnel

Ana da Silva - vocals, guitar, scruti box, kalimba, bass, percussion, harmonica

Gina Birch - vocals, bass, belafon

Vicky Aspinall - vocals, guitar, bass, violin, piano

Georgie Born - cello on "Dancing In My Head"

Dick O’Dell, Shirley O'Loughlin, Kadir Durvesh Shehnai, Ingrid Weiss - percussion

Robert Wyatt - drums on "And Then It's O.K."

Richard Dudanski - drums on "Dancing In My Head"

Charles Hayward - drums on "Family Treet" and "Go Away"

Ingrid Weiss - drums on "Shouting Out Loud" and "Odyshape"

Cover art

The album cover is based on the painting Peasant Woman by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich.