Throughout their journey from folk electronica to dark wave, across Bangkok and Bergen, and through multiple line-up changes, The Observatory has never looked back. The audio documentary Anatomicron marks the first ever chronicle of the band’s evolution, tracing their experimental path to revelatory effect.

A collection of unreleased and live material, demos, covers and rarities, Anatomicron’s 13 tracks find The Observatory venturing through constantly changing terrains. Songs from their five albums are represented here in both embryonic and crystallised forms, with frontman Leslie Low alone on some demos, and the band just jamming in the studio on other tracks with unbridled intensity. Alongside these is the Nick Drake gem “Joey”, captured during a rather noisy bar gig but it’s possible to glean The Observatory’s penchant for re-imagined covers. Even an early live recording of “Ask” from one of their first concerts as a 5 piece at The Substation is included. There are a few more surprises. A long forgotten alternative arrangement of “Invisible Room” from Dark Folke, and a very different “Ends To No Means” from more recent times.

A record of places and people as much as music, Anatomicron unsentimentally takes stock of the past, freeing The Observatory to further their expedition in sound and songwriting. Compiled by the band themselves, Anatomicron is digitally released in support of the documentary The Obs: A Documentation, and is available to its crowdfunding contributors. This release is also being realised especially for fans who have followed The Observatory throughout their expansive years.

http://obsdocu.sg/anatomicron/
http://www.theobservatory.com.sg/

MY WHOLE LIFE Live in Bangkok SO::ON Festival 2006

DOWNWARDS IS HELLWARDS Demo 2006

DEADHEAT Rehearsal 2006

INVISIBLE ROOM Demo (Jaws) 2008 Jaws

LOWDOWN Demo 2008

BLOOD RISING Live at UCC Theatre HEXA VI 2009

THIS SAD SONG Demo 2010

ONE-DIMENSIONAL ONE Demo 2011

ENDS TO NO MEANS Goodman Doom Demo 2011

CATACOMBS Demo 2011

With your support, The Obs: A Documentation will be a crowdfunded, feature-length documentary about the experimental rock group The Observatory. To consider donating, please visit http://obsdocu.sg/.

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Dubbed “Singapore’s bravest musical adventurers” by The Straits Times’ Yeow Kai Chai, the Observatory – or the Obs to their fans – is a low-key purveyor of high craft.

Through their ten years and five increasingly dark albums, the Observatory has ventured into hallowed recesses of music (with their long-time producer Jørgen Træen (Jaga Jazzist)), art (Andy Yang, Justin Bartlett), and design (Keit
h Utech) – all the while remaining completely understated.

A veritable supergroup, the band reaches back into Singapore’s musical history. Lead vocalist Leslie Low, the son of Chinese pop singer Dai Ping, previously fronted confessional band Humpback Oak. Concave Scream, another seminal act of the ‘90s, produced bassist Victor Low. Former classical pianist Vivian Wang is the Observatory’s keyboardist-singer, and guitarist Dharma emerged from Heritage and Throb. If these groups allowed us to collectively dream of homegrown music, the Observatory has consistently pushed the dream’s limits.

In 2013, certain members have plans to move abroad. The Obs: A Documentation serves as a tribute to the band. Directed by Yeo Siew Hua (In the House of Straw), this experimental film explores the relationships and processes behind the group’s brooding, brilliant, and confounding body of work. Beginning with the recording of 2012’s Catacombs in Bergen, Norway, The Obs: A Documentation looks back at the band’s formative experiences through archival footage and interviews.

Tread lightly into their rehearsals, homes, office, and in-between moments. Observe how, as self-managing musicians, they try to preserve their sanity. Perhaps even understand the ordinary folk behind the doom-laden din. The Obs: A Documentation reveals a group of people who have quietly, then not so quietly kept at it.

Join our observance in sound. In order to realise this vision, the crowdfunded The Obs: A Documentation seeks your support to cover part of its costs.

To make a donation, please visit http://obsdocu.sg/ or contact us at obsdocu@gmail.com.