Folk duo sound out way forward
Old Bohemia release
A Rutherglen folk band are all set to release their new EP.
Old Bohemia feature guitarist Otis Ebenhardt, who is from Castlemilk Road, and singer Marie Leveau, from East Kilbride.
Last year the duo released debut EP Epoch, and now this Thursday, June 30 will see the release of another EP, Astral Giants.
Otis said: “We had spent six months playing live shows before Epoch and felt it would be right to capture that in the recordings.
“We wanted to get the intensity and rawness of that live sound so we basically hit the switch and recorded it in a couple of takes but with Astral Giants we took some time out from performing live, which gave us space to consider each part carefully.
“It is a more complete sound with a full band and string accompaniment which, while it is a departure from our previous EP, feels closer to our sound.”
Although there is a full band sound to the EP, Otis took on a personal challenge too. He decided he wanted to play all the instruments on the recording, which turned out to be a hefty task.
Otis added: “With this EP we wanted to expand our sound and bring to life the idea of Old Bohemia away from one acoustic guitar and vocals.
“I really wanted to take this opportunity to test myself as a musician and I decided early on in the process that I wanted to write and perform every instrument.
“It turned out to be mammoth task, however, embracing that challenge has really re-enforced my belief in what we are trying to do and why we do it so it was one that has ultimately been really rewarding.”
Also rewarding for the duo has been the chance to tour and play a host of festivals in the past 12 months.
“We were invited down to headline a show at the Great Escape festival in Brighton and the show sold out, which was an amazing experience, although it involved us having nowhere to stay and playing on the pier through the night until a kind pair of souls gave us beds in the wee hours.
“We also closed the acoustic stage at the Wickerman festival, headlined the Forest stage at the Meadows festival in Edinburgh and had an amazing midnight show at the Eden festival.”
Now the band are gearing up for the rest of the year, with a run of shows planned to support the EP, and another EP and tour planned for the winter.
More information can be found at oldbohemia.com and facebook.com/ oldbohemia
I wanted to take this opprtunity to test myself as a musician Otis Ebenhardt