BY JOSH WOLF
Wandering between shivering vibratos and dreamy swoons, Olympia band Oh, Rose will shake your bones. The vocals can lift you away in hypnosis, as easily as they can command your attention, and although there is some solid instrumentation in the release, the vocals carry the songs.
In the past, front-woman, Olivia Rose, performed solo acoustic shows, but over the last few months the band has been adapting the songs for amplifiers and drum sets. Rose grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, and has been singing since she was a teenager. Over the last few months, she has been working with Evergreen grads and Guest House hoodlums, Liam Hindale and Stephen Smith, who play in Olympia’s quintessential folk-americana group Camp Wisdom. Hindale and Smith have been involved in too many musical projects to name, but suffice it to say, they know what’s up. Together, Rose, Hindale, and Smith have been searching for the sound that is Oh, Rose. The band released their debut EP, That Do Now See on April 4.
Oh, Rose is genuine. “I’ll always/ yeah I’ll always/ I’ll always/ look you in the eyes,” sings Olivia Rose on the final track titled, “Into The Chorus.” She told me she wrote and recorded the song in 30 minutes while her bandmates, Hindale and Smith, were getting beer.
It seems that a constant confusion and frustration with the inexpressibility of the everyday drives the songs and makes them painfully relatable. In the opening track, “Prom,” Rose sings, “but you’re not summing up things with a black heart/ oh you know something’s there but you’re not sure what.” Oh, Rose is about feeling and living, and embraces the passions of life in the most human way. The band is always looking forward.
The melodic drone of the guitar alongside the primal beat of the drums creates a transfixing canvas for the vocal melody to paint over. Rose’s voice is undeniably heavenly. She told me that she gets a lot of comparisons between Oh, Rose and Angel Olsen, but Rose resents the comparison between the more senior singer-songwriter, and wants to break off into uncharted sounds.
For now, Oh, Rose is constantly growing. With this impressive first release, as well as their upcoming nation-wide tour, the band is on the up and up. Be sure to keep an eye on Olympia’s finest folkers!
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