Taken from TheMinnesota Daily - A&E - October 1, 1997

Ear of the beholder

By Spencer Foxworth

Ousia isn't the easiest band to grasp, but that's just fine with them. It's when people start noticing their work-- and loving it -- that makes them wonder.

"I've been so used to listening to music that makes everyone say, 'Whatthe hell is this?' that I got used to people not liking what I play," says Jason Shapiro, Ousia's keyboardist. "So the fact that people are likingour work is really weird, actually."

Why Is That a Four? (Prospective Records), the local group's debut album -- a hypnotic morass of ambient, trance and avant-garde guitarnoise -- wheels and soars above the most minimal of melodic frameworks.Perfect for inducing visions and scaring the cat, but it's unapproachablefrom the dancefloor's standpoint (you can't shake much of anything to it)and they've got no snappy lyrics to sing. Instead of a single frontman,they cultivate a unified anonymity, performing in masks and costumes. And,after ditching the Blueshift moniker, they've got that darn unpronounceable name (it means, in Aristotelian metaphysics, "being" or "substance").

But then again, maybe it's not such a surprise that Ousia's fanbase is growing. Their music, if you're in the mood, is viscous, complex and downright spooky: Why Is That a Four? works best in a darkened room during an October thunderstorm, and who doesn't love a good scare now and then?

And if the electronica trend has done anything, it's reawakened public awareness to the experimental electronic music of the '70s and early '80s, a legacy to which Ousia's soundscapes lay direct ancestral claim. Shapiro cites Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, early Can, and Syd Barret-era Pink Floyd ("up to Ummagumma") as influences -- the latter of which inexorably gives Ousia its eerily psychedelic edge.

"Ideally," Shapiro says, "our music induces active listening ...zoningin, zoning out, letting the music alter your mood... Whenever we play as how, we get a pretty strong reaction either way. There'll be the people that leave after a minute, and there'll be those that sit there and get into it."

Strange, using the expression "sit there" along with "getting into it,"but that's hitting Ousia's nail on the head. Sixty minutes worth of WhyIs That a Four? doesn't generate loads of physical motion, but themind -- if that's not spinning crazily, something's definitely wrong.

As with most ambient, experimental groups, Ousia's more concerned with describing textures than matching beats, and appreciating their music demands a greater role of the intellect than the booty. Not that Ousia's a bunch of pompous, ivory-tower snobs -- Shapiro was watching The Incredible Hulk during our interview -- they're just more concerned with metaphysics than, say, Korn.

Which explains both the album's title and Ousia's musical philosophies."We were looking at how Braille comes up with numbers," Shapiro explains,"wondering why the Braille sign for 'four' means 'four'." Just as a word corresponds to the concept only in your mind, so Ousia's music questionsthe relationship of listener to listened. Why Is It a Four? definitely communicates something, but to say it's a universal communiqu‚ would be way over-the-top. Ousia's droning sweeps are scary, but how scary -- andwhy -- depends upon who's listening.