Ousia

Minnesota serves as home base for this four-piece lineup of electric guitars and synthesizers, whose output occupies territory between hallucinatory space rock and atmospheric electronica by merging ambient and drone elements with more propulsive motion. The ensemble has maintained an uneven presence because each participant maintains separate endeavors, yet they have issued two albums: Why Is That a 4? in 1997 and Face the Robot in 2002.

Keyboardist Jason Shapiro and guitarist/noise artist Paul Horn began developing a joint piece slated for an Intermedia Arts event in September 1996. Horn was simultaneously pursuing drone work with guitarist/keyboardist Fred Teasley. To explore how their differing ambient strategies might intersect, Horn united the efforts. The resulting trio set about composing new pieces. Bassist Dave Onnen entered the fold a month later, prompting Teasley to assign the name Blue Shift. Jason Ducklinsky joined days ahead of the group’s first appearance at the inaugural Future Perfect program, curated by Chris Strouth and staged December 9, 1996.

In March 1997 the quartet adopted Ousia, a term drawn from Aristotle’s Metaphysics, after discovering at least two other U.S. bands already using Blue Shift—one being a California progressive rock act that had just released Not the Future I Ordered. Ducklinsky exited around the same period. The remaining members performed repeatedly throughout Minnesota during 1997 and the opening months of 1998, occasionally sharing stages with Laibach, Skye Klad, Third Eye Foundation, and Windy & Carl. Their debut album appeared on UltraModern in September 1997 and received numerous year-end honors from local press alongside the band itself.

Although the project had achieved some local traction, the members concluded in May 1998 that the approach had run its course and elected to disband after one final show at Future Perfect V. Horn thereafter concentrated on home recordings and sustained his partnership with Shapiro as Alpha 61, placing a track on the collective Future Perfect’s 2001 release The Nature of Time. Shapiro also performs with Ana Voog and free-improvisation percussionist Milo Fine. Onnen joined the psych-rock group Skye Klad.

The quartet unexpectedly reconvened in 2001, resumed concert activity, and issued Face the Robot on Mutant Music in March 2002. At that time Horn, Onnen, Skye Klad drummer Matt Zaun, Glen Jones, and Mike Croswell formed Di Dollari.