OXY (pluko)

A collection of bitesized tunes, "OXY" (or "OXY*") is another pluko album made for the emotions of the Internet.

Although, to be fair, "OXY" as an album is by no means bitesized. Standing tall at 21 tracks and 53 minutes of runtime, this record is something of a mammoth project, but it's populated almost entirely by short tracks. With an average track length of just over two and a half minutes, "OXY" is an album that continually jumps from track to melodic track, and yet the mood always remains consistent. If there's one thing pluko is good at, it's the style present here — a melodic infusion of trap and house, with elements of hyperpop and plenty of layered sound design — and for 53 minutes straight, that style is present. Now, this is great if you're looking for a pick-me-up record — particularly with pluko's everpresent vocal chipping in — but not so great if you're looking for anything even slightly more forensic. I'll be the first to admit, though, that pluko's sound design is impeccable. Everything feels intentionally mixed and well-layered, positing generally high quality production across the large majority of this tracklist, with some impressive sound design in parts and some big techno-esque kicks to power the otherwise slower sections. But it's just not enough — or, more accurately, it's just not varied enough. "OXY" starts off very strong, but when pluko begins to return to the same production motifs or vocal styles for the second, third, fourth time, things begin to fall apart. And with the tracks being so short, it's almost inevitable that more than a couple of them are completely missed during a listen, fading into the all-too-similar tracks around it to morph into nothing more than mere filler. The house-leaning tracks are, perhaps, the biggest offender, especially towards the end of the album, but even the trap/future bass cuts can fall a little flat; not to mention the vocals. It's not even that pluko is exploring some abstract concept or scrutinizing some deeply rooted emotions — no, most of the lyricism on "OXY" is surprisingly superficial and and misses yet another opportunity in a series of missed opportunities to give this album some depth. There are so many high-quality elements, and still, "OXY" remains quite a surface level album.

I don't mind pluko's vocal all that much, but after 53 minutes of jumping through the same hoops, it does start to get pretty tiring. That combined with repetitive sampling leaves just the production to add some flair, and occasionally it does, but oftentimes the tracks just blend together. "OXY" ends up being a bit of a slog to get through, but honestly, if you turn your brain off and just vibe, you'll still most likely have a pretty good time. Funny, that — paying attention leaves you bored, but being unengaged leaves you weirdly, well, engaged.