Ohmme: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

May 9, 2019, Bob Boilen When Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart fired up their angular guitar sounds during soundcheck at the Tiny Desk, I was thrilled. The shrieking, rhythmic noise these two classically trained musicians make as Ohmme is what made their debut album, Parts, a musical highlight for me in 2018. But hearing them in the office, trading vocals with such pingpong precision, sent me into euphoria. This is now one of my alltime favorite Tiny Desk concerts. Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart, along with drummer Matt Carroll, steer clear of rock music clichés that plague so much of the music I hear these days. Their adventurous spirit, reminiscent of Dirty Projectors, is sometimes challenging. But it opens a window on what the voice can be. It also redefines what the guitar can do at one moment it s a stuttering percussive instrument, the next it s a bed of noise with a harsh tone that somehow morphs its way into the melody. For this Tiny Desk, we hear four wellcrafted songs from that 2018 al