The New Pornographers

Already celebrated as the “Heart of Chicago’s Music Community” (Noisey) by both fans and tastemakers alike, OHMME (aka the duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart) amalgamate the aggressive and the meditative on their bold debut full-length album, Parts. Cunningham’s smoky croon complements Stewart’s higher-register coo, all underpinned by the restrained yet highly inventive polyrhythmic percussion of drummer Matt Carroll. Think Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian-era Dirty Projectors.

Stewart and Cunningham have become established performers in the Chicago scene. Both have experience as veteran players in several projects and collaborations under their belt. Their voices are on both Coloring Book and Surf by Chance the Rapper, they played with Vic Mensa in high school, they’ve worked with producer Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, they provided string arrangements for Whitney, they sang back-up vocals for Twin Peaks. Enlisting fellow Chicago cohorts Doug McCombs of Tortoise, Ken Vandermark and cellist Tomeka Reid, OHMME recorded and self-produced Parts from Cunningham’s home studio, Fox Hall. The record draws from influences as diverse as Kate Bush and Brian Eno’s Here Come The Warm Jets to jazz and improvisational music. But with Parts, OHMME manage to organically marry a breadth of divergent styles into an album that is cohesive, daring, and distinctly their own.