He had writer’s block between 2013’s 6 Feet Beneath the Moon and this record. Though he did release an excellent trip-hop project in 2015 under his own name.
Marshall is hyper-aware of his own excretions both physical and metaphorical. The Ooz is 19 tracks long, the result of spilling new ideas over time like on the auspicious ‘Czech One’ featuring a ghostly saxophone haunting the entire song. Switch gears, and you get the cacophonous ‘Dum Surfer’ that really takes a toll on Marshall’s already gunky voice. “As my brain’s diluting, I suffer from whiplash/This girl’s now screaming, I think we’ve gone and crashed,” he sings in a sour tone.
Marshall’s ideas are dark as ever, begging to not be shown the light. The meandering ‘The Cadet Leaps’ is a nice idea but feels unfinished. ‘Sublunary’ plummets into oblivion with no recourse. ‘Midnight 01 (Deep Sea Driving)’ takes shape in his backward jazz. It’s one of his best tunes. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another four years to bathe in the ooze.
7/10
