Back in 2001, New York experimental pop outfit ON AIR LIBRARY (often stylised On! Air! Library!) released their self-titled debut EP to offer an alternative to the dominant sound emerging from the underground to the mainstream. They eschewed the indie rock of the likes of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol and The Strokes in favour of a style of pop which owed more to Brian Eno than Karen O (and thus representing one of the first acts to signal the nascent shift towards electronic music in the city). Twin sisters Claudia and Alejandra Deheza, who formed the group alongside Phillip P Wann, went on to find acclaim with School of Seven Bells, but the importance of ON AIR LIBRARY should not be underestimated. The project was shaped by a version of NYC that has now slipped away, written when Loud Reed and Iggy Pop could still be found walking the streets and the underground still had teeth. “New York City was an escape from the South for us. There was such an energy and endless possibilities,” Wann explains. “Everything about it made its way into our sound: the washed-out sky, the noise, the heat, the snow, the beautiful people, the old buildings, the insanity, the crime, the holiday decorations, the food, the trash, the subway—all of it.”
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the EP, ON AIR LIBRARY have decided to make the release available on streaming services for the first time alongside a brand new vinyl edition, not only reintroducing themselves as a pioneering outfit but also hinting towards new material that will soon be unveiled. For the who might have missed things the first time around, single ‘A Word From Benjamin Spock is an ideal place to dive in. A sound at once richly crafted and cryptically opaque which pairs layers of guitars and feeback to envelope the listener, though it is up to interpretation whether this ethereal space is undergoing a process of blooming or decay.
ON AIR LIBRARY can be found at the usual places.
Photo by Dan Mazikowski