Omar Rodriguez-Lopez ‘Sworn Virgins’ Review: the first in a cavalcade of solo material is an engaging, genre-defying listen.

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It’s a good year to be a Omar Rodriguez Lopez fan. In addition to the reformation of At The Drive In, the ever-prolific multi-instrumentalist is unlocking a treasure trove of solo material for 2016.

How much you ask? Enough to be released on a bi-weekly schedule all the way through December of this year (twelve albums in total).

And the deluge begins with Sworn Virgins (out July 15th via Ipecac), a dizzying, elastic and eclectic release from a musician who has always defied easy categorization. The album compiles previously unreleased material from 2012-2013, reversing a moratorium the musician placed on solo work following the death of his mother.

Album opener Pineapple Face is a fever dream mix of funk guitar, hip-hop beats and cinematic synth-stabs, which blends seamlessly with second track Not Even Toad Loves You, with Rodriguez-Lopez’s ghostly wail floating across post-apocalyptic soundscapes and ever-mutating percussive patterns.

First single Kill a Chi-Chi is easily the most accessible song, blending New Wave guitar textures and 60’s cocktail jazz with cinematic results.

Crow’s Feet has a stomping blues-skronk strut, augmented by samples of John Lennon’s Working Class Hero, while the intimidating Saturnine utilizes Luis Alberto Spinetta’s Durazno Sangrando to disorienting effect.

The ghost of Bowie emerges on the Ashes to Ashes-esque Fortuna, aided by Mars Volta/Bosnian Rainbows collaborator Deantoni Parks watery keyboard patterns (who also handles percussive duties throughout the album).

Rodriguez-Lopez’s vocals are supple and dynamic rising high above the complex arrangements on tracks like Trick Harpoon Stare Of Baby and Heart Mistakes, or used to androgynous multi-tracked effects on the trip-hoppy High Water Hell and album closer Twice A Plague (or is that Le Butcherettes Teri Gender Bender’s uncredited vocals I hear)?

If Sworn Virgins is any indication on the quality control of Rodriguez-Lopez’s upcoming release schedule (including the upcoming Corazones), then we’re in for a wild, rewarding, unpredictable ride.

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