Tag: Otto Knows

Otto Knows – With You

“Is it rude to describe that as a bit of a mess?”

Tim: Despite having had a number of fairly successful tracks since 2012, Otto will most likely always be known as “the guy who did that eh-eh-eh-eh-eh oh-oh-oh-oh-oh song”, which is a bit of a shame.

Tom: But entirely accurate.

Tim: On the other hand, he’s clearly not letting that hold him back, as this new one shows.

Tim: Is it rude to describe that as a bit of a mess? For a good thirty seconds or so, I was considering the possibility that the YouTube uploader had stuck a few extra sounds on there to get it past the copyright system, as it just seems rather chaotic.

Tom: I’m not sure about “a mess”, but it certainly takes a while to get where it’s going — and when it gets there, I’m not sure I want to be there with it.

Tim: There’s good stuff there, sure – love that guitar, for starters – and in fact I’ve no problem with any of the individual components. It’s just…well, to be honest I blame Avicii: he decided it’d be fun to stick some country strumming on a dance track, and now every DJ and his dad is happily chucking accordions and all sorts all over the place, however misguided.

Tom: I’m particularly unsure about that fast one-two, one-two in the background. It’s almost a polka beat, I think? And “singing Losing My Religion like we used to do” isn’t nearly as clever a line as the writer hoped.

Tim: It’s nice, and I’d dance to it – I just can’t help feeling it could be better if it were a bit more streamlined.

Otto Knows – Not Alone

“We’ve got another ah-ah-ah-ah-ah going on.”

Tim: You remember Otto, or at least you’ll remember his work – Million Voices, that eh-eh-eh-eh-eh ah-ah-ah-ah-ah that was around for most of 2012. Earlier this year he had a hand in Dying For You, successful in Sweden. And here’s another!

Tim: Well, we’ve got another ah-ah-ah-ah-ah going on, but I don’t know if I want to criticise it for that because (a) it’s entirely different and (b) the rest is very good – the vocal chorus in particular is great, with the “it’s a long long way” section having a lovely melody.

Tom: It does, and it’s a melody that I’m sure I’m certain I’ve heard before, but I’m damned if I can remember where.

Tim: I had the exact same feeling, but can also not place it, so never mind. Second verse is good, building on the groundwork the first one did but beefed up a little, and quite where that middle eight came from I’ve no idea, but I do like.

Tom: Yes! This track seems… inoffensive. There’s nothing that particularly stands out for me, apart from that joyous exit from the middle eight, but there’s also nothing wrong with it.

Tim: Well, I could criticise the track by suggesting the first chorus is probably twice as long as it needs to be, because it does get a bit tiring by the end – on the other hand, I’ve no issues with this at all. Nice one.

Otto Knows feat. Lindsey Stirling & Alex Aris – Dying For You

“It’s rare for me to immediately sit up and pay attention in the first verse.”

Tim: Otto, the guy who had that “eh-eh-eh-eh-eh oh-oh-oh-oh-oh” hit Million Voices a few years back; Lindsey, a violinist who had that dubstep thing going on for a while; Alex, a guy who according to Google is a Burmese civil rights campaigner so that’s probably a different one.

Tom: Well, that was a heck of a paragraph. Still sort of hoping he’s the civil rights campaigner.

Tim: You, though, a self-confessed “sucker for a string section,” so have a listen.

Tim: And that there would be a fairly enjoyable pop track if it wasn’t for the excellent idea of having all that violining on there; as it is, though, it has all that violining on there, so it’s a really enjoyable pop track.

Tom: That’s a good-sounding introduction — it’s rare for me to immediately sit up and pay attention in the first verse. I think that the pre-chorus — or, maybe the vocal chorus? I don’t know what you call it with a structure like this — is actually the weakest point.

Tim: Hmm, perhaps – I’d say it doesn’t help that the song is clearly keen to get to that post-chorus that it’s not so bothered about what happens first; hell, the verses are better, vocal-wise. And speaking of vocals, Alex, it turns out, is a very competent vocalist; Otto has also shown previously that he knows what he’s doing on the production side of things – basically, we’ve got a load of people who are good at what they do, all working together to make an almost entirely very good song. Nice work.