December 8, 2023 (Chicago, IL) - Today, LA-based producer/vocalist/pianist omniboi shares Panorama, his debut EP with Nettwerk. Spanning six tracks, Panorama metamorphosizes the idea of perspectives by exploring concepts like nostalgia, heartbreak, grief, and self-worth through the lens of different characters.
"We think of life experiences as kind of like squashed two-dimensional perspectives,” Omni explains, “and don't really explore them too much until we ourselves have gone through them."
"A panorama,” he continues, “is an attempt to take a perspective we don't often see and relate to. For example, villains that have become more and more evolved—because instead of just them being bad or evil—we can give them an origin story, or we can give them a personal goal that isn't necessarily evil.”
Born Omni Rutledge, omniboi grew up in various parts of Arizona. He notes that many major bands skipped over Arizona entirely on their U.S. tours, which played a role in driving him to the margins of music; some of the first concerts he attended were warehouse and desert raves. From there, he began cultivating a sound that he refers to as “kawaii future bass mixed with jazztronica,” taking strong influences from the Far East.
Omni brings in featured artist nelward to introduce the idea of “omnivision” on track two, aptly titled “Omni-Vision” (HERE).
“[Omnivision] is the idea of having unlimited perspectives,” he notes. “It’s something we all wish we had, but we’ll never have. There will always be blind spots.”
Elsewhere on “Ghost Town, USA” (HERE), Omni reflects how his perspective on life in Arizona soured as he began to see more of the world. Lyrics like "I just got back from vacation in Cali / Now all my love for this place is gone / They say I should be keener and the grass is always greener / But I don't even have a lawn" paint a picture of a jaded twentysomething eager to break free of routine.
"The term ‘ghost town'," Omni shares, "is both in reference to all the abandoned mining ghost towns that litter the desert landscape of Arizona, and the complacency created when you grow older in a place you've always lived."
Omni recently wrapped up a tour with alternative R&B artist Ehiorobo, hitting the East Coast in October and the West Coast in November and playing venues such as NY’s Public Records and LA’s Resident.
Panorama is available at digital retailers here: https://omniboi.ffm.to/panorama
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