Artist: Omar-S
Title: Just Ask The Lonely
Label: FXHE Records
Cat.#: AOS5000
Format: Album, Unmixed CD, Reissue
Style: Deep House, Detroit House
Release Date: 15-Jun-2009
Quality: VBRkbps

Alex O Smith, better known as Omar S, finally delivers this hugely anticpated cd album, re-producing his inimitable, f*cked-up Detroit variations in a style which he claims to be uniquely his own – and who are we to argue? “Just Ask The Lonely” is a brilliant trawl through the Omar S sound, wholly unexpected turns making for music that’s deliciously hard to place. Beyond the supremely atmospheric ambience of the opening intro, “Jit” explores this enigmatic poetry perfectly, stretching from a padded 4/4 build-up to a full-flow track that’s so fast and incoherent it takes you several moments to work out what’s going on. This is the beauty of the man’s music – its somehow so raw and primitive yet challenging and, dare we say it, groundrbeaking that you’re never quite sure whether you’re listening to a rough collage of demo’s or to something so advanced and unpretentious it’s yet to be properly defined. For our money this release falls sqaurely with the latter, making itself one of the most exciting and un-formulaic techno albums we’ve heard in ages and a prelude to what will no doubt become a frenzied approach to a man who’s already been cited as the next Theo Parrish. As Omar himself says : “You can not copy Omar-S style. You can only copy a song that has already been produced by Omar-S”. Awesome!