The Observatory is an art rock, experimental and electronica band based in Singapore, consisting largely of alumni from significant 1990s Singaporean bands. They are influential in the Singapore music scene. The band formed in 2001 and performed for the first time at the Baybeats music festival in December 2002. They have released eight albums: Time of Rebirth (2004), Blank Walls (2005), A Far Cry From Here (2007), Dark Folke (2009), Catacombs (2012), Oscilla (2014), Continuum (2015) and August is the Cruellest (2016). The band has performed in Norway, Italy, Japan, France, Germany and Singapore, and headlined regional music events in Malaysia and Thailand and Korea, such as MTV's Pattaya Music Festival, Heineken Fat Festival Bangkok, St Jerome's Laneway Festival and the Seoul Fringe Festival. The Observatory is the subject of a crowd-funded experimental music documentary, The Obs: A Singapore Story, which premiered at the Singapore International Film Festival in December 2014 and travelled to the CINEDAYS Festival of European Film in Macedonia, DORF film festival in Croatia, Bare Bones International Music and Film Festival in the United States and more. Discography Albums Time of Rebirth Released: March 2004 Produced by The Observatory & Rennie Gomes Mixed by The Observatory & Rennie Gomes at members' homes and at Yellow Box Studios, Singapore The debut album, Time of Rebirth, released in March 2004, is described by the band as "a quiet, ruminating album of poignant songs underlined by delicate textures and lush instrumentation. Delivered in hush tones over layers of subtle electronic elements blended with a distinct acoustic feel." It was written and recorded over a period of two-and-a-half years. Reviewing the demo version of Time of Rebirth on BigO, Ivan Thomasz called it "a timely way-station on the journey of life", while critic Paul Zach praised the official album as being "so achingly, subtly gorgeous, it defies categorisation". Despite not receiving any airplay from local radio stations, 800 copies of the Time of Rebirth demo were sold, with the official album being picked up by Universal Music SIngapore for distribution, selling out its first run of 2,000 copies. Nominating Time of Rebirth as the Best Album of 2004, Razali Abdullah of Today called it "a groundbreaking album so ethereally beautiful...a local band as good as [The Observatory] comes by once a millennium." Reviewing the album in The Straits Times, Yeow Kai Chai wrote that "The Observatory invoke otherworldly beauty through a