OCHO

OCHO sees electro-acoustic expeditionary and songsmith Stace Gill teaming up with producer DOS and guests Eanna Hickey, Gerry O'Connor (fiddle) and Lisa Cuthbert.

Her Formula is a winning one, using a blend of loops and beats that serve an unsettling soundscape against which she can paint portraits of love and life.

There are hints of Enya pared down for indie kids. The effect is powerful. 'The Turn' is drenched in strings, sprinkled with subtle electro blips against Gill's looped vocals, conjuring a mesmerizing melange on a tune about the fragility of love. Her duet with Eanna Hickey on his 'Spin A Rope' is welded to a dense ethereal backing and is, quite genuinely, sublime. The sparse piano opening and shimmering strings on 'Spare Face' confirm OCHO's talent for adding just enough to flesh out a song rather than smothering it. The title track is truly hypnotic, with Gill's harmonising vocals floating atop a piano loop complete with vinyl surface noise (although to these ears the industrial percussion is a little clunky)

The album is worth snaffling for the superb re-working of the Phil Spector classic 'Be My Baby', replete with an underlying menace worthy of the killer himself. Gill has drawn comparisons with Bat For Lashes and Imogen Heap, but she is very much her own woman making her own music, with a heap of help from hugely talented friends. A Hugely impressive debut.
By JACKIE HAYDEN - HOTPRESS Magazine


- HOTPRESS Magazine

The Script and U2 can move over, this is a fresh, new sound coming from the Emerald Isle and if these guys don’t take the world by storm, I for one will be very surprised.
The new Irish act consists of a collaborative collection Stace Gill and DOS, with various guest musicians including Eanna Hickey, Gerry O’Connor, Jill Deering, Suzanne Savage, Lisa Cuthbert and Sarah Gleeson.
The album consists of 11 tracks. The ones to have “an ear” out for are Spin A Rope and Deep River but the one I personally love is the Be My Baby cover by the Ronettes , a very unlikely cover and absolutely nothing like the original, a darker more sinister edge to it.
I think they’re the best kept secret to come from Ireland yet.
But don’t take my word for it, have a preview listen here and hear it for yourself. This link won’t be live for long, so have a go while you can and then stick a reminder on whatever smart device you have for a download come May 25th!
Stunning. There’s no other word. - BOOB.ie

OCHO are made up of duo Stace Gill and the oddly named DOS, who is called, on the bands bio, a modest genius. A contradiction in terms, because true modesty is not calling yourself a genius at all. Do we all agree with that? Good, let’s get to the music.

Now, these days, chavs and baseball cap wearing scallies have discovered hip-hop and heroin, nobody is taking E anymore, and grooveboxes are gathering dust all around the country. So it’s safe for the musical community to make important electronic music again, and as MMOTHS and Low Sea have proved, it’s possible. OCHO walk the finest line between atmospheric ambience and straight ahead pop structure. Often, a duo will rely on layers and vastly built up production to compensate for the lack in numbers, but OCHO manage to remain minimalist, while using the vocals and sparse instrumentation to full effect. Nothing falls flat. Opener “Spare Face” is carried by piano, Gill’s haunting vocals and sparse beats. Cunning, stealthy and cuts through perfectly. Single “Young Hunting” is almost menacing, very Massive Attack, trippy beats and keys, like a thick audio smoke, floating out the speakers. This pair may just have nailed something here. Bands like AIR haven’t made a relevant album in a while, so it takes a lot of confidence to step into the breach and make a record of spacey atmosphere, delivered with solid musicianship and Gill’s effortless vocals. Hell, they even do a cover of The Ronettes “Be My Baby”, that takes the blueprint and opens it up into an obsessive love song with samplers.

OCHO may just be the band who can cross over to the mainstream, from the electronic underground. They bring to the table undoubtable talent and a refined sound, nothing about this insists itself on you, it’s happy to do its own thing and hook you in almost slyly. Bearing in mind this is a debut album, expect to hear more from OCHO. - Chewyourownfat

Download: Spin A Rope and Deep River
Ocho are a collaboration of two people: Stace Gill & DOS. They are quite new to the scene. But armoured with their creation of heavily layered ambient atmospheric structured musical gems, it will only be a matter of time before they break into the scene and receive the attention this album utterly demands. The production is a strong hold here, especially for a debut; built up lush layers of instrumentation, loops and beats compensate the two piece, but OCHO manage to maintain a minimalistic feel throughout.
Almost a steady contradiction is that whilst being so big sounding; it is also so precious and almost minute. Effective and catapulting. Gill’s haunting vocals and DOS’s use of sparse beats are a perfect combination of power and craft. Track “Young Hunting” draws you instantly in from beginning to end, floating out of the speakers like a ghost effecting it’s surroundings. While tracks like “Spin a Rope” and “Deep River” elevate the album to heights rarely heard on a debut. Stunning from start to finish. (Released May 25th) - Mutantspace