Photo: Alexa Viscius

Ohtis take us to a walk-in clinic waiting room on the brilliantly bizarre “Failure”

Illinois trio Ohtis recently shared “Schatze” with Stef Chura, and today sees its physical release on 7″ for Saddle Creek’s Document Series. That means that the B-side, “Failure”, is also now available to stream, and we just had to highlight it for its bizarre greatness. Songwriter Sam Swinson says:

“‘Failure’ was written many moons ago after visiting a walk-in clinic for an STD test attended by a ‘Dr. John’ and psyching myself out waiting for the results. They eventually came back negative, but not before spawning this insane fucked up stream of consciousness song. I had always stood by the song living up to its title until Adam and Nate dug it back up and added this Bonnaroo-worthy outro to it.”

Visiting a sexual health clinic is likely to bring up quite an array of thoughts and feelings, and Swinson unfolds his here, and they’re made unsettling by Ohtis surprising production choices. With a foundation in the golden-spun indie folk sound they’re known for, “Failure” finds them incorporating more atmospheric arrangements and electronics to animate Swinson’s paranoid thoughts. “I’m so fucking afraid / I am fucking terrified of sex disease, of cigarettes, masturbating, eating pills, getting close to each other,” he sings through a vocoder that adds a de-humanising effect to his admissions, as if he’s trying to distance himself from the gritty reality of a clinic waiting room. Ohtis then play out “Failure” as a gorgeously glowing dream – it’s as if Swinson has escaped the clinic and is just floating down the street in a haze of pure relief.

You can purchase Ohtis’ “Schatze” b/w “Failure 7” from here. You can find Ohtis on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.