User:AbbieCall/sandbox

Biographical information

Musical style and influences
The Oh Hellos have a folk, Celtic-influenced style that has also been referred to as a majestic brand of folk-pop. The two lead singers combine with string instruments and a choir to create a folk sound. Sometimes there are as many as 13 musicians on stage when they're performing.

Maggie and Tyler have a very deep, introspective style. A defining characteristic of their music is the contrast between the soft melody and the intense lyrics, creating a sort of tension, as the Daily Times calls it. Many of their releases, such as Through the Deep, Dark Valley and Dear Wormwood, could be considered concept albums as they tend to tell a story with concepts and themes running through it.

"Hailing from South Texas, the Heaths began making music in 2011 by writing a song for their mother’s birthday. Their voices blended perfectly, crafting an ethereal-sounding mix that’s bolstered by intricate strings and sweeping arrangements, and within a year, they had released an independent EP containing the song “Hello My Old Heart,” which received national airplay and more than 7 million Spotify streams. In building a live band, they put together a rotating cast of musicians that’s often epic in scope — 13 players are sometimes on stage at once — and found work opening for groups like NEEDTOBREATHE, which brought The Oh Hellos to Knoxville for the first time a few years ago."

Sibling relationship: "Many times that we write or go on tour, we always leave that experience, I feel, a lot more solid in our siblinghood,” Maggie said. “We do everything in house — literally in our house! — so there is a lot of tension as far as having to work and live with somebody in the same place you work and live. Regardless of whether you’re siblings or not, that’s going to cause some kind of strain, but I feel like we’re learning how to communicate despite that and be able to keep going. We’re able to turn that tension into art and make something good of it.”

“And even with that tension, it’s kind of like there’s always this background assurance that we’re going to stay siblings no matter what happens,” Tyler added. “Any tension we go through only makes the finished product that much more satisfying, and when we make it through it all as a team, it teaches us a lot.”

Recording with a big group: "Well, we write new music all the time... It is just Tyler and I writing and arranging and figuring all the parts and stuff. The thing that was really great about it was we would really shape the ideas that we first brought to the band to perform. So much of it changed with the live part that they're basically two separate creatures. When we wrote Dear Wormwood, it was the same thing. The two of us just basically wrote and arranged everything and really just tried to communicate what had been in our hearts and minds and stuff. When we brought it to the band we had that clear idea of "This is what we're thinking" and the emotions. It just really allowed everyone to just know what we were trying to say, and then be able to speak it through their own voice and be able to make it their own.

Tyler: Yeah, like we started with our idea and our vision and built upwards from there. I think the primary difference between the recordings and the live show is..it gets a little bit more chaotic, as there is everyone there contributing. But I think the main difference is just that the live show is hugely energetic and intense and explosive. And I think the flip-side of that is also touring with musicians that understand the quiet an"

Maybe a section on why independent?

Religious language: "It's definitely intentional, yes. Tyler and  both grew up in the church and have spent time questioning our faith-upbringing, and kind of come around to, I guess, an understanding of what it is we truly believe. So when it came to our music, and wanting to write music from our heart, we do tend to use a lot of our biblical knowledge, or language of our childhood. We were wanting to write music that was sincere.... We never really pinned ourselves as a Christian band, because that kind of connotes "music written for Christians, by Christians, and that is just for Christians." If you're not a Christian, then you won't relate to that, and that's not we're trying to do."