This show happened in Dec. 2019, just as the world was getting ready to end (again; ah the cycles of death and renewal!), and captures Om at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, New York, vivid in deep hues of blue and green. It’s not the full set — included are opener “Gethsemane” and “State of Non-Return,” which followed, and a concluding take on “Bhima’s Theme”; timestamps below are courtesy of YouTuber @orion_cliff, who left them in a comment; I chased down the whole setlist, also below, with the barest modicum of internetular research — but it’s Om, playing live, professionally recorded. I don’t know what you had in mind for the next half-hour or so of your life, but if you look at the percentages, the greater likelihood is you’re better off spending it in the virtual company of Al Cisneros‘ bass tone anyhow. Whatever else it was can wait.

Speaking of waiting, is this the part where I mention it’s been 12 years since Om‘s most recent studio album, the still-resonant Advaitic Songs (review here)? Sadly yes, it is. I count that record as one of the most begging for a follow-up to have been released in that span of time, but on the other hand, maybe the distance is good. Not one year has gone by since 2015 that someone hasn’t seen fit to tell me for certain that “this is the year we get a new Om record,” which I take more as a sign of justifiable longing than anything else at this point. I have no info, insider, outsider or hearsay, on when or if a sixth Om full-length might ever happen. Thinking about it now, I’m just glad that Advaitic Songs — from which “Gethsemane” and “State of Non-Return” both come, while “Bhima’s Theme” originally appeared on 2007’s third LP, Pilgrimage — has held up for all this time, which I don’t even imagine I’ll need to argue it has because all you have to do to know that is hear it. And once you’ve heard it, it’s made your day better, and that proves the point already. So there.

Cisnernos, drummer Emil Amos (Grails, Holy Sons, etc.), and Tyler Trotter might have had copies of their 2019 LP, BBC Radio 1 (review here), on the merch table for this show, if they weren’t already sold out, and that’s probably the nearest comparison point for the ‘Live at Pioneer Works’ video. The sound here is more akin to a well-mixed soundboard bootleg than an in-studio audio release tracked at a world-renowned radio facility, but it’s Om‘s meditative heavy centered around the three-piece’s exploratory, low-end-led grooves, and as “Bhima’s Theme” moves from its minimalist voice-and-bass beginning fluidly into the cycles of jazzy fills from Amos and its more active but still resolutely mellow build, I’m not sure why it was posted almost five years after it was recorded, but I’m happy the thing exists and that I’ve had the chance to watch it. A couple times over, now.

The clip follows below. As always, I hope you enjoy:

Om, Live at Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY, Dec. 14, 2019

Show program:
00:00 – 07:11 Gethsemane
07:30 – 14:46 State of Non-Return
15:05 – 28:00 Bhima’s Theme

Full setlist:
Gethsemane
State of Non-Return
Sinai
Cremation Ghat I
Cremation Ghat II
Meditation is the Practice of Death
Thebes
Bhima’s Theme

OM is a three-piece experimental doom metal band hailing from San Francisco, California. Formed in 2003 by the rhythm section of Sleep, the group features Al Cisneros, [Emil Amos], and Tyler Trotter. Together, they draw from a host of other influences—including psychedelic rock, Middle Eastern folk, dub, reggae, and post-rock—and incorporate musical structures similar to Tibetan, Byzantine, and Ethiopian chanting. Their very name derives from the Hindu concept of Om, referring to the natural vibration of the universe.

This project is supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology, bridging the two cultures of science and the arts.

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