'Mood dancing' LP Blog reviews
"Undeniably 90's industrial but with a certain OMD resonance and combined with a dance floor etiquette it makes for a lot of things for a lot of different people. A seductive sound that just tells us of the ambition in what Octavia Freud are setting out to do. There were moments here where it felt like this act were on the cusp of something ground breaking." mp3hugger (IRELAND)
"Really good instrumentation here, some fantastic hooks and riffs with some awesome design. Really good indie pop track with some alternative elements, and the vocals really match the style, especially with that distorted and saturated vocal mix which I liked a lot. Really good stuff here!" Synthwave Sounds (USA)
"Interesting thematically and we appreciate the creative vision behind this." Destroy//Exist (UK)
"Well produced and it has some great elements." Riptide Magazine (FRANCE)
"Liking that attitude and energy of the vocals and the ambience coming through in the more glacial arrangement." Analogue Trash (UK)
"The production is excellent, and I loved the lyricism on the song." Alfitude (UK)
"This is an interesting track with many good moments and a nice synth sound. A good energy in this song and interesting and creative work." Enroute records (NETHERLANDS)
"Interesting sound" Vocal Synthwave Retrowave (USA)
"This is a pretty cool track and we like the vibe of it." Turtlenek (GERMANY)
"Undeniably 90's industrial but with a certain OMD resonance and combined with a dance floor etiquette it makes for a lot of things for a lot of different people. A seductive sound that just tells us of the ambition in what Octavia Freud are setting out to do. There were moments here where it felt like this act were on the cusp of something ground breaking." mp3hugger (IRELAND)
"Really good instrumentation here, some fantastic hooks and riffs with some awesome design. Really good indie pop track with some alternative elements, and the vocals really match the style, especially with that distorted and saturated vocal mix which I liked a lot. Really good stuff here!" Synthwave Sounds (USA)
"Interesting thematically and we appreciate the creative vision behind this." Destroy//Exist (UK)
"Well produced and it has some great elements." Riptide Magazine (FRANCE)
"Liking that attitude and energy of the vocals and the ambience coming through in the more glacial arrangement." Analogue Trash (UK)
"The production is excellent, and I loved the lyricism on the song." Alfitude (UK)
"This is an interesting track with many good moments and a nice synth sound. A good energy in this song and interesting and creative work." Enroute records (NETHERLANDS)
"Interesting sound" Vocal Synthwave Retrowave (USA)
"This is a pretty cool track and we like the vibe of it." Turtlenek (GERMANY)
'Smoke & Mirrors' LP magazine review
Nightshift magazine review of Octavia Freud's 2nd album, 'Smoke & mirrors' March 2020
"On the surface there seems to be a lot of love on Octavia Freud’s new album. In reality these ten tracks conjure up images closer to dimly lit basement S&M bars than soft-focus honeymoon scenes. Octavia Freud – the work of musician Martin Andrews – is part of a tiny but fertile local electronic music sub-scene alongside the likes of Tiger Mendoza, Means of Production and The Subtheory, all eschewing the modern, mangled lightweight incarnation of the term for darker, heavier, more austere electronic sounds. In Octavia Freud’s case the starting points are 70s synth pioneers Suicide: from the reverbed to-buggery vocals of the title track and the giddy yelps on ‘No Final Light’, to the almost rockabilly propulsion of ‘You Love to Watch’, Vega and Rev are Andrews’ touchstones. He’s at his best when he’s at his darkest: the bubbling, lo-fi minimal wave of ‘Photographs and the lysergic ‘Love Me Again’. Best of the lot is the sleek, dark ‘Safety in Numbers’. ‘Smoke & Mirrors’ is enjoyably low-rent synth-pop, inventive enough to rise above its production values to deliver its stark message: there is no love here, just the beating heart of the machine."
http://nightshiftmag.co.uk/2020/mar.pdf
"On the surface there seems to be a lot of love on Octavia Freud’s new album. In reality these ten tracks conjure up images closer to dimly lit basement S&M bars than soft-focus honeymoon scenes. Octavia Freud – the work of musician Martin Andrews – is part of a tiny but fertile local electronic music sub-scene alongside the likes of Tiger Mendoza, Means of Production and The Subtheory, all eschewing the modern, mangled lightweight incarnation of the term for darker, heavier, more austere electronic sounds. In Octavia Freud’s case the starting points are 70s synth pioneers Suicide: from the reverbed to-buggery vocals of the title track and the giddy yelps on ‘No Final Light’, to the almost rockabilly propulsion of ‘You Love to Watch’, Vega and Rev are Andrews’ touchstones. He’s at his best when he’s at his darkest: the bubbling, lo-fi minimal wave of ‘Photographs and the lysergic ‘Love Me Again’. Best of the lot is the sleek, dark ‘Safety in Numbers’. ‘Smoke & Mirrors’ is enjoyably low-rent synth-pop, inventive enough to rise above its production values to deliver its stark message: there is no love here, just the beating heart of the machine."
http://nightshiftmag.co.uk/2020/mar.pdf