By Brent Thompson

Terry Ohms – a.k.a. Wes McDonald – has been a fixture on the Southeastern music scene for over two decades. In addition to recording under his alter ego of Terry Ohms, McDonald has been a member of Vulture Whale and The Ohms and currently plays with People Years. Smooth Sailing Forever [Cornelius Chapel Records] is Ohms’ eighth album and second release of 2020. McDonald engineered, produced and played all of the instruments on this 10-track collection, so the sound and creative vision are exclusively his own. Stylistically, the songs shift from Americana (“Sadness”), ’80s-era sounds recalling The Cure (“Do You Feel That”) and even some numbers with a dance vibe (“Gentleman Caller,” “Action Room”). But while genre-bending is a facet of Smooth Sailing Forever, Ohms provides a cohesive sonic stamp over the course of the album. In listening to this material, you can’t discern if these songs were recorded in 2020 or 1985 and that’s a good thing.