Wilco-endorsed Chicago duo subverting their classical training to make proggy, glammy pop

JOHN LEWIS

Secret proggers Ohmme: (l-r) Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart

ASH DYE; IMEHAKPANUDOSEN/GETTY IMAGES FOR COACHELLA

WE call it ‘secret prog’,” says Macie Stewart, with a laugh. “We both went through a bit of a King and I think you can hear it on this album. In fact, there’s a bit on the opening track, ‘Flood Your Gut’, where these baroque harmonies kick in. First time we did it, we looked at each other and said, ‘Uh oh, it’s the Gentle Giant bit!’” Ohmme - pronounced ‘Om’ and formerly known as Homme, until they got into an online spat with a now defunct K-pop band of the same name - are two 27-year-olds from Chicago who put prog, glam, free jazz and the spikier end of classical composition through a pure pop filter. “We enjoy playing music that is moderately challenging for us,” says Sima Cunningham, even if that’s not always the intention. “With a lot of these songs, we didn’t even realise that they were in odd time signatures at first! We think of 4/4 as ‘normal’ but there are plenty of cultures that work very naturally in 7/4 or 11/8 or whatever. When we play these songs, we feel like we’re generating our own little organic whirlpool.”