Friday, 12 September 2003

Arts

Album: Over the Rhine - OHIO

[OHIO cover]The first note on the second disk of this double-album is my favourite. It's a tentative piano chord, repeated a second or so later with more conviction as the opening to the next song. It's hesitant; uncertain whether the listener's ready to move on after the powerful close to disk one (Changes Come, in a way Over the Rhine's interpretation and reworking of U2's Wake Up Dead Man).

Many people have commented on the length of Over the Rhine's new album. Isn't it a bit over-indulgent? Couldn't they lose a couple of songs and drop it down to a single disk? Sure they could - Suitcase, Professional Daydreamer and How Long Have You Been Stoned don't do it for me; Anything At All and Bothered are available elsewhere - but by being a double album, you're drawn to interact more with OHIO. You have to change disks halfway through, and if you have the vinyl edition you have to flip sides twice more. You're fed twenty-five minutes of music at a time, then forced to take a breath before diving in for more.

For a long time, Over the Rhine's Good Dog Bad Dog was my all-time favourite album; surprising for a record that on first listen I didn't rate at all. And with repeated listenings I'm finding the same change happening in my attitudes towards OHIO. I was initially underwhelmed by the opening lyrics and laid-back pace but now I'm coming round.

All the trademarks of Over the Rhine are there, the piano-led arrangements providing an understated backdrop to Karin's vocals and exquisit lyrics ("meet me on the back streets of heaven").

It's an album that fits snugly into the Over the Rhine repertoire, an album to be savoured late at night with the candles burning. More quiet music that needs to be played loud.

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)

Posted by pab at 12:30