Clearly drawing inspiration from his experiences with local favourites Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Sam Grant, aka Rubber OH, returns with a ferocious new album and a desire to hook you up with the closest melodic ear worm. Building on the strength of 2021’s debut album ‘Strange Craft’, ‘Soil’ finds the Rubber Man drifting even further out into the psych pop universe, picking up on the intensity of Pigsx7 but comforting it with lovely poppy melodies and sonic effects which provide glimpses of the deftness songwriting techniques.
“There’s certain things I can do with Rubber OH that I possibly avoid when I’m working on Pigs material” confirms Grant “but I’m always hearing different sounds and ideas so it’s mostly about knowing which ideas fit with which project and working on pieces that I might not get to do on something else”.
Spending his time not just with PigsX7 and Rubber OH, Grant also dedicates considerable hours to the production studio and working with other artists; surrounding himself in an almost constant atmosphere of different sounds and creative ideas. “I think the work with Rubber is like a palette cleanser in a way, but I also need to be mindful that I can’t work on different ideas at the same time. In that way I tend to work on Rubber when I’m out cycle with Pigs, so it’s like two sides of my brain, with Rubber being some sort of crazy, almost hyper pop, piece. Once I put one down, the other tends to come up, and that works really well for me”.
Combing the ‘hyper-pop’ ideas together, ‘Soil’ bubbles with pop, melodic, ideas including excellent collaborations with Rozi Plain (“Circles”), Voka Gentle (“Lift”), and Newcastle artists Me Lost Me & Ceitidh Mac (“A morning after” and “Belly of the Beast”) producing fresh, bassy, sonic textures layered with gentle textures and lush production. “Working with other people is really enjoyable” confirms Grant “and that’s made Soil feel really filmic in a way and where ‘Strange Craft was focused on journeying, this is a more literal album.”
Released on the new Pigs x7 collective imprint, Mr Medicine Records, ‘Soil’ will also find Grant reuniting with Pigs x7 partner Dextro who releases their own new album “Respire”, on the same label, in September. “We’re really excited with the idea of Mr Medicine Records” confirms Grant “it’s great that me and Dextro have new albums coming out on the label, at the same time, but it’s also a chance for us to think about the future and the opportunity to work with others as well as Pigs.”
A few joint launch-album gigs, including a double-header at the Stand and Shadow with support from Ceitidh Mac, offers the chance not just for Rubber OH, but also for Dextro, to showcase both their new albums, new label, and just how they will pull off replicating their recordings in a live environment. “I’ve been practicing for a while” laughs Grant “I have played as a band before but this will be solo so it’ll be a combination of loops and mixers and effects – it’s ready to go but it does rely on multitasking a lot”.
Given his complex diary, and ability to work through numerous creative identities, multitasking shouldn’t be a challenge for Rubber OH.