Across its ten tracks, vocals function as much as part of the instrumentation as they do a traditional lead, with Hammerbell and John Winston Phillips giving each song its own shifting character.
Vocal-led pop, soft electronic detail, and subtly off-kilter textures and movements
Electroacoustic experiments take a more upbeat, vocal-driven turn on Oen Sujet’s The Friendliest Fight We Know, a cascading electronic-pop album released on cassette in late July 2026. Across its ten tracks, vocals function as much as part of the instrumentation as they do a traditional lead, with Hammerbell and John Winston Phillips giving each song its own shifting character.
Opener “Tap The Working Space” moves through lullaby-like memories and off-center electronic textures before “Second Service” carries that momentum forward. Hammerbell’s vocals glisten with a light, occasionally roughened edge, adding warmth without pulling focus from the electronics. “This Mind To This Thought To Go” taps into an early Broadcast and Lali Puna-like sense of bubbling electronics, keeping its fuzzy warmth intact as brittle bursts of synth-pop brightness push the song along.
Near its close, “The Other Wears The Red And The Blue” brings a flowing, cinematic quality, while “Splinter Group” bookends the record with an art-pop/prog sensibility. Once a full-fledged band with several contributors, the duo now seems more focused on refining a delicately balanced electronic(a)-pop space with Hammerbell and Phillips at the helm. The Friendliest Fight We Know finds Oen Sujet working comfortably within those boundaries, shaping ten tracks that move between vocal-led pop, soft electronic detail, and subtly off-kilter textures and movements.
The Friendliest Fight We Know is available on Bandcamp.
