Minimal Wave Records

Citirax is ex­cited to in­troduce the debut LP from the Los Angeles-based duo OP-ART, a pro­ject born out of the creative isola­tion of the loc­kdown era. The band, the brainchild of An­drew Clin­co—known for his work with Drab Majes­ty—was original­ly named using the ac­ronym “Ob­lique Pleasures Amidst Rough Times,” a nod to the chal­leng­ing times that in­spired its for­ma­tion.

In An­drew’s own words, the album “re­presents a sonic an­alog to the visu­al art move­ment of the 1960s,” mean­ing it is both de­nse­ly layered and psyc­hedelic, yet aims to cap­ture a sense of minimal­ism in its tradi­tion, theo­ry, and con­cep­tu­al approach. OP-ART’s sound is heavi­ly in­fluen­ced by the New Wave genre, draw­ing in­spira­tion from art­ists such as John Foxx, Mar­tin Dupont (with whom An­drew has col­laborated on a track), Ex­periment­al Pro­ducts, and early OMD.

True to their com­mit­ment to aut­hentic an­alog sound, OP-ART eschews di­git­al plug-ins in favor of a wide array of an­alog syn­thesiz­ers and out­board rack ef­fects units. The album fea­tures a di­ver­se col­lec­tion of syn­thesiz­ers in­clud­ing the EML 500, Arp Odys­sey, Arp Omni2, Jupit­er 6, SH-02, SH-101, Moog Rogue, and Roland Pro­mars. Each piece of equip­ment con­tributes to the album’s lush, rich soundscapes, creat­ing a tac­tile and im­mer­sive li­sten­ing ex­peri­ence.

The Final Act, the title of the LP, is a tes­ta­ment to the duo’s ab­il­ity to blend cat­chy melod­ies with pro­found em­otion­al depth. The album of­f­ers an in­tros­pective jour­ney through themes of time pass­ing, roman­tic en­tangle­ments, and ex­is­tenti­al re­flec­tions on an apocalyp­tic scale. With its evocative sound and thought­ful lyrics, The Final Act pro­mises to re­sonate de­ep­ly with li­sten­ers, mak­ing it a com­pell­ing and sig­nificant debut from OP-ART.