[ATTENDED: April 18, 2018] OHMME
I was slightly disappointed to find that Jeff Tweedy had an opening band as I was hoping for “an evening with” the Wilco frontman. When I looked up OHMME, really the only thing I learned from them was that they were once called HOMME. But I’m not sure why they changes the name.
So I didn’t really know what to expect when two women came out on stage. They each had a guitar and a microphone.
And then proceeded to play the most interesting duo rock that I’ve heard in a long time.
Macie Stewart and Sima Cunningham (I’m not even sure who was who) played a vast array of styles and sounds (often within the same song) using just two guitars (and a violin) and their voices. It was fantastic.
Their two guitars could not have been more different. One was loud with an almost rattling sound (as if there was something on the strings), while the other was clear–usually picked. They had wonderful harmonies, but mos of their songs were quite unconventional.
The music was wonderful and when they did this my head exploded. First it was that 8 note melody but then they did so much more with the song. I mean, just that 1 minute has several different things going on. The song is called “Fingerprints.” That noteworthy technique is called “hocketing.”
Hocket is the rhythmic linear technique using the alternation of notes, pitches, or chords. In medieval practice of hocket, a single melody is shared between two (or occasionally more) voices such that alternately one voice sounds while the other rests.
So yes, they are using avant garde sounds combined with medieval techniques.
Their bio says that they began in 2014,
inspired by the free improvisational music scene in Chicago and influenced by avant-garde rock. Their combined vocal and musical talents yield an incredible dichotomy of harmony and chaos that leaves the audience wanting more. OHMME has been compared to PJ Harvey, Nirvana, and Kate Bush but their innate chemistry creates something uniquely satisfying and wholly different from their predecessors.
It’s a bit hyperbolic, but it’s not untrue.
One of the women switched to a violin and that changed the sound quite a bit. Quieter with pizzicato notes but with even more powerful harmonies.
Despite this pretty song, they also played some really noisy experimental songs. Like the heavy noisy guitars and unusual vocals “water in my eye” and then more of that awesome hocketing.
They played a fantastic cover of The Roches’ “Jerks on the Loose” a song I’d never heard before but which I loved immediately. And again those harmonies and non-harmonies when they sing together are just stunning. They told us that The Roches first performed the song on that very stage some decades ago.
I was really impressed by their set and I bought their EP. The EP is good–there were a bunch of songs they played live that were not on it. Interestingly the thing I didn’t like about the EP was the drums (a machine, I believe). OHMME don’t need no stinking drums. They sound fantastic without them.
A great opening act. Check them out!
Leave a Reply