Oh Village

I’ve seen Oh Village a couple of times, and played some shows with them in the past. I was excited to see them in this grungier venue setting because I’ve been accustomed to consuming their material either on their album, or in a venue that paired beautifully with the band. With their dense vocal harmonies, intricate song structures, profound lyrical content, and mastery at creating pensive ambience, Oh Village is a band you absolutely have to see playing in a church or any other comparatively and acoustically beautiful structure conceived by an architect (although they were quite impressive at Jam In Jubilee music festival, which is an outdoor event). Scott Currie, the lead vocalist and pianist for Oh Village, actually recorded a solo album called Übergänge in the church he grew up worshiping in. He’s no stranger to creating that cathartic, introspective atmosphere when writing and performing music.

So you can see why I was curious to see them perform in a venue that many a time has hosted bands like GSTS or other awesome and abrasive bands that leave your ears ringing for the rest of the week. I knew that, from the blatant concrete composition of the room and from past experience, all the bands would be subject to some reverb, resulting in some overly washy cymbals and maybe some other shitty sound stagnations. Obviously, the reverb complimented Oh Village (I honestly expected the reverb to be much more severe for the other bands – I was wrong). As I had expected, the mix was very unique in respect to what I was used to hearing. The low and mid ends of their sound were particularly amplified but not to the degree where it was a bone-shaking, ear-fogging, bass attack. Their vocal harmonies were thick and were very prominent throughout the room.

In addition to the new songs they played (the set closer called “Yet Again” and a new version of “St. Helen”), they played a new opening song for this set. The song was completely instrumental, and a pleasantly distinct off-shoot from what they would usually play. The song was very upbeat and, as usual, deliberately intricate in rhythmic structure, though, I somehow didn’t expect it. However, don’t take my elaboration on this song as if it was epoch-changing; in an interview I conducted after their set, Currie said that during a band practice, “Jake [our guitarist] was being a tool and trying to distract us and just started to randomly hit notes just to be funny, and Steve just started playing drums. . . . It kind of just turned into that.” This was probably the most remarkable and curious time I’ve seen Oh Village. Check out some tracks below. - Red on Black Music

Night was settling outside the windows of AfterMath when the headliners, Oh Village, finally started their set. Oh Village has been around since 2009 in various incarnations, and over the years the foursome’s sound has matured into something tender, folky, and soulful without losing its rock edge. The band consists of Scott Currie providing lead vocals and pouncing on the keyboard; Jake Janzen on guitar, violin, and cello; a barefoot David Dueckman on bass guitar and trumpet; and Stephen Dahl on drums and percussion.

And they sing — all of them. Soft, keening harmonies infuse their music with a lush and mysterious quality, reminiscent of orchestral folk-rockers Fleet Foxes. Perfectly in sync and on key, there’s no doubt that these guys know what they’re doing. The violin and trumpet flesh out their sound with an authentic folky feel, and Dahl drums lightly with an admirable self-restraint that many drummers lack, complementing the other musicians without dominating them. The crowd was hanging on every shining note.

If you dig indie rock or folk rock, keep your ears out for [this band]. If we’re lucky, maybe they’ll even make appearances at some of the upcoming summer music festivals; listening to them while lying under a shady tree with a cold beer sounds like heaven. - The UFV Cascade

Oh Village is an alternative/indie four-piece band based out of the Fraser Valley. Formerly known as Ivory Coast, this group came together in 2009 and has been gaining nothing but momentum ever since. Consisting of members Scott Currie (piano/vocals), Dave Dueckman (bass/vocals/trumpet), Jake Janzen (guitar/vocals/cello), and Steve Dahl (drums/percussion), Oh Village creates a full, beautifully layered, honest sound unexpected from just a quartet.

Since playing local shows and becoming confident on stage, Oh Village, a band that started out solely for the love of music, has rapidly gained popularity and a dedicated fan base. With their vocal harmonies and distinct arrangement of instruments, this band blends together alternative, indie, with a touch of folk gaining them the recognition of industry professionals as well as new listeners when they emerged out of last year’s province-wide BC’s Best Teen Band Competition with a second place victory. They’re also at it again this year, competing in a world-wide music contest called Unsigned Only in which they made top eleven in their category and need your online votes to advance.

Oh Village continues to work diligently on their music and has big things planned for this year. In February, they released their long awaited EP Headlights/Red Death and were quickly back in studio early this summer to record their first full-length. To help fund this full length, Oh Village asked their fans to donate in exchange for prizes such as free merchandise, their name in the album credits, handwritten thank you letters, and, for the higher contributors, home performances, customized songs, and even a rap performed by a band member of their choice. Their committed and excited fans rose to the occasion and successfully reached the goal of $7,000. With the help of their listeners, Oh Village has a brand new record on its way and plan to tour as far as Winnipeg this summer to support it. Their upcoming shows in BC include July 24, 2012 at Go Go Beans with Teapot Hill, July 26, 2012, at Jubilee Park with Bed of Stars, and July 28 with The Knots, Shadows, and James Mackay. - Y57 Media