Music
Press
Amid ubiquitous, skinny-jeaned guitar squall and countless electro-pop revivalists, Over The Wall’s strangely euphoric post-folk feels like a blessed relief. Drawing from snippets of Bert Jansch, Brian Eno, Arab Strap and The Blue Nile, Gav Prentice and Ben Hillman have evolved their sound into a beguiling, fragile clatter, encompassing everything from synths and laptop beats to mandolins, trumpets and harmonicas.
Having made their way on to national radio playlists with last year’s limited debut EP, The Rise And Fall Of Over The Wall – due for an
imminent re-release – the Glasgow-based duo are seemingly happy to pitch up anywhere with their lab-like hotchpotch
of equipment, and play their plaintive bedroom symphonies to anyone
who’ll listen.
Prentice’s heart-melting Scottish burr warms the thrum of songs such as A Grand Defeat, while tender, personal lyrics vividly evoke the pair’s darker preoccupations. Thurso, a poignant crisis of confidence about the dread of getting older, is particularly lovely. Prentice sings: ‘I turned 20 and my dad turned 50 at my back/It makes up for all I lack/In facing darkness/And while I’m young and thin/I’ll keep rushing round the bends.’ The song then bursts into a sublime crescendo of acoustic guitar and an effusive, summery flourish of horns, suggesting that everything might turn out fine after all.
Velimir Ilic - Metro
9/10.
Utilising a whole range of musical instruments from hurdy gurdys to kazoos, this is electro-pop with reflective neutrality and bite. Sometimes they're reminiscent of Daniel Johnson, others MGMT, but thankfully we're spared the overtly glossy sheen present with so many other indie bands. Instead the juxtaposition of cross genre experimentation offers something genuinely interesting. (FL) - Rock Sound
Over The Wall are one of those new breeds of bands who embrace technology with a big warm hug and a mug of hot chocolate... 'Grand Defeat' sinks its initial plaintive guitar plucks into a sorrowful sea of mournful synths and oddly moving lyrics about 'the Holy Ghost burning his toast'. One of the most likeable live bands you can witness in Scotland at the moment, their touching lo-fi electronic nuances give us all a reason to look to the future with a glint in our eyes. - The Herald
In almost every sense Over The Wall are a typical Glasgow band. The duo of Ben Hillman And Gav Prentice makes charming, minutiae-detailing paeans that bleed twee pop sensibility while stoking the fires of transient electronica. Really, the only noticeable difference between this pair of west coast wannabes and many of their hometown adversaries is this: they’re good. Very fucking good. Without pretence or sneer, the captivating ensemble have built up a devoted following on the back of ditties like the impeccable Thurso and equally elegiac A Grand Defeat. Having recently made a successful play for the nation’s airwaves, these lads should this year prove just how untypical a 'Glasgow band' they can be.
- Billy Hamilton - The Skinny
We get sent a lot of music here at TLOBF Towers, as you might expect. Most of it, if we’re honest, is a bit rubbish… However, there are rare occassions when something truly great stops you in your tracks. And Over The Wall have done just that. A superb mix of clashing styles, there’s hints of TLOBF faves Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit (and yes, it might be because they’ve got Scottish accents), but there’s also an urgency and honesty to their music that’s rare in a band so new. - The Line of Best Fit
Discography
'The Rise and Fall of Over the Wall EP' on Motive Sounds Recordings.
Forthcoming release: "Settle Down" 7 inch vinyl and download single - Monday 5th April.
Photos
Bio
Over the Wall is friends Gav Prentice of old steel town Bathgate and Ben Hillman of old seaside town Bridlington, who met in Glasgow in 2002 and have been inflicting their relationship on others through the medium of euphoric pop music since 2006. Originally a ‘collective’ of various musicians making various sounds at the Over the Wall night in the old Stereo in Glasgow, the pair use keyboards, laptop beats, guitars, mandolins, trumpets, cowbells, harmonicas, hurdy gurdys and kazoos in their shambolic live setup.
The last three years has seen them play up and down Scotland and England, first gaining notice in 2007 when they were selected from 1200 unsigned entrants to play at T in the Park's 'T Break' stage and in 2008 from 800 entrants to play at The End of The Road Festival in Dorset. November of that year marked the release of their debut E.P. 'The Rise and Fall of Over The Wall' on Carlisle and Bristol based independent label Motive Sounds Recordings, bringing with it national radio airplay from the likes of Radio 1, 6Music (with Steve Lamacq championing on daytime and Tom Robinson twice forced to apologise for the colourful/offensive language therein) Xfm, Radio Yorkshire and best of all Sunny Govan. Entirely self-produced, the EP was also made the highest rated indie release of the month in Rock Sound Magazine and earned rave reviews on numerous music blogs.
In January 2009 The Skinny named them as one of the 10 acts “…on whom to put your house on” for the year. That summer saw the band’s first substantial tour of the U.K. to coincide with a second run of ‘The Rise and Fall…’ (following the unexpected response to what was initially intended to be a limited release) bringing with it a higher profile and a summer of more festivals. With sales of the EP approaching the 1,000 mark, a timely new direction was sought.
Changing gear, the duo then embarked on soundtracking a theatre project in their home town; 'Hitch' documented one man's trip from Glasgow to L'Aquila for the summer's G20 protests using only his thumb and the kindness of strangers. Utilising their existing canon with new arrangements, the show was critically acclaimed and a box office sell out.
With work on their debut, and non-bedroom created, album underway with producer Mark Whitelaw, again for Motive Sounds, the single ‘Settle Down’ is to be released on Monday 5th April 2010 on 7” vinyl and digital download. Building on Prentice and Hillman’s preferred lyrical theme of quarter-life crisis anxiety, the track seems to defy the notions of fragile folktronica which won them praise for their debut EP and deliver on their promise of catchy yet intelligent “Euphoric Pop”.
“Thrilling.” – The Fly
“This is electro pop with reflective neutrality and bite – 9/10” – Rock Sound
”Amid ubiquitous, skinny-jeaned guitar squall and countless electro-pop revivalists, Over the Wall’s strangely euphoric post-folk feels like a blessed relief.” – The Metro
“One of the most likeable live bands you can witness in Scotland at the moment, their touching lo-fi electronic nuances give us all a reason to look to the future with a glint in our eyes.” – The Herald
“…There are rare occasions when something truly great stops you in your tracks. And Over the Wall have done just that… A superb mix of clashing styles… there’s also an urgency and honesty to their music that’s rare in a band so new.”
– The Line of Best Fit
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