There was this weird period in high school where all we did was make each other pass out. I’m sure this wasn’t the safest thing for a group of kids to be doing, but in addition to getting a good laugh at the reactions from passing out, the experience itself was incredibly odd. While passed out, we would often have these odd "dreams." The music on The Apparitions’ self-released album, Oxygen Think Tank would have made the perfect soundtrack to such odd visions.

Perhaps what makes The Apparitions seem so otherworldly in this current musical world is that none of the songs, at least as far as I can tell, are about relationships. Rather than going the now popular and typical emo route, the band’s lyrics flow as an odd assortment of ideas used to outline a bizarre narrative; this is reflected in the lyric sheet as heavily used ellipses are spread throughout. No matter how mundane the actions described may seem - "The Rat" could easily be dismissed as a simple recounting of the band’s dealings with an unwelcome rodent - there is always a twist, either a reference to some form of self doubt or a simple question, that reveals the lyrics true sources: paranoia, and as accurately described by the band, schizophrenia and general neurosis.

It’s not only lyrically that The Apparitions get the general feeling of their subject matter across. Even on "Pieces," a song that is initially on the road to being a nice light, conventional piece as an acoustic guitar strums along as another guitar chimes in with short fills over the drums and bass, there are moments of delusion as layers of keyboard merge with multiple tracks background vocals resembling the peaceful yet disturbing gurgling of the baby in that movie The Offspring. Slightly more disturbing is how much the vocals on the song, "Rubber Veins," make me think Dave Matthews may be doing a guest vocal appearance. I could be way off on that comparison, but only occurs in this one song and the ghostly aspect of it all works incredibly well with the minimal keyboard only arrangement on this closing track.