Raz Ohara and his Odd Orchestra return for their second album for Get Physical, II. It’s a warm, organic collection of avant-garde, open-hearted pop music which positively teems with life; a forest of pleasures and possibilities which you’ll want to lose yourself in indefinitely. The origins of the album are in summer 2008, when Raz embarked on some informal jam sessions with guitarist Tom Krimi on the latter’s outdoor terrace. This relaxed, natural approach to music-making suited the duo perfectly, and they soon decided to take it one step further: to escape the city, and write and record out in the countryside. You can almost hear the fresh air blowing through II, the insect life teeming in its undergrowth. The process was simple: Raz would program rhythms, simply to give himself and Tom a “clock” to jam around, and play some loose chords on acoustic guitar or bass; Tom would join in with effects-laden guitar and a 4-track loop machine. These sounds were then developed, re-arranged and finessed by Raz with his long-term collaborator Oliver Doerell (who worked on Raz Ohara’s previous album, and is also known for his productions as Dictaphone and Swod on the City Centre Offices label) - giving them the real Odd Orchestra touch. Raz was also inspired by some of the folk and gypsy-style music that he was hearing at small festivals outside Berlin, music that wasn’t expressly clubby but which nonetheless enchanted and entranced people - and made them dance, made them jump for joy. Raz journeyed deeper into the woods and set about exploring the full range and dynamics of his voice, developing a more organic, expressive and plain joyful style of singing for II. Letting the melodies come to him naturally, rather than mechanically seeking them out, the composition process was simple and direct; within a few days half the album was on tape. Throughout the album the vocal parts you hear are usually the very first take - Raz was keen to capture the magic of a newly for