Oh So Luminous

A strange little band of humans scrabbled together from all the necessary bits. A nod to old-school arena rock while leaning towards prog-pop. Or not, you tell us.

LATEST NEWS

The OSL crowd has been in the same boat as everyone during the COVID-19 quarantine, not only unable to play out, but not even able to get together and rehearse. To battle the boredom and the ache of not being able to make with the noise, they decided to do their own take on a ‘quarantine live performance’. Ryan set up his phone and recorded the drums for “You Move Me” off of the debut album. Kent, Mark and Whitney then took that video and jammed along, recording their own parts. Kent gathered all the footage and stared editing. Enjoy the results!

June 10, 2019 – “You Have Always Been” drops in all the usual online places.
The band began recording in Mark’s Running Waters studio in October 2018, tracking all drums while performing live via direct boxes. Whitney did her scratch tracks in an adjacent room while Kent and Mark kept up with the kit. Those sessions knocked out all the tunes in about two months, then Kent came in and started laying down guitar parts.

All guitar tones on the album were recorded through a Kemper Profiler while simultaneously capturing a pristine direct signal. The original idea was to use the Kemper only to beef up a series of re-amped direct signals through some of Mark’s collection of killer amps. In the end, however, the Kemper was used almost exclusively! Kent used an Epi Les Paul, Gibson RD Artist, Parker Fly, Gibson Gold-Top LP, Fender Tele, Rickenbacker, Parker PM20, and an Agile AL-3100

Mark and Whitney then knocked out bass and vocals which went surprisingly quickly. Mark experimented a lot with a handful of Fender Jazz and P-basses, going direct, reamping through a 20w Fender amp fully cranked and then adding flavor and power with plugins. A few weeks later Mark tackled the mix and edits, no small task given that some songs have up to a dozen guitar tracks and that again in vocals.

By late April, 2019 all was locked and loaded, and the band had their long-anticipated release gig at the Southgate House Revival on June 7, 2019 with special guests Endive and the Whisky Shambles Duo.

Below is pretty much spot on what it felt like, the video captured from the release show had problems.

PRESS

Oh So Luminous - You Have Always Been album art Mike Breen at Citybeat reviews “You Have Always Been”

ABOUT THE BAND

Whitney Barricklow Szabo – vocals
Whitney is a staple of the Cincinnati scene. Her incredible voice has led bands and solo work. A soulful talent that brings an unexpected vibe to the heavier rock tones OSL plays. Fun fact, about 10 years prior she auditioned for Kent’s old band kelp.

Mark Szabo – bass/synth/bg vox
Mark is another long-time Cinci musician, a formidable talent on guitars, bass or drums for many regional bands – Chakras, Kohai, the Stories (with Whitney).

Kent Meloy – guitars/synth
Kent makes with the six string noise and brings the strange chord voicings and (sometimes) odd lyrics to the band, which Whitney has embraced as “mostly being about aliens”. Kent played in local faves kelp, Kid Jupiter, Staring at the Sea and the folk-prog-pop juggernaut Collins Gate.

Ryan Bouts – drums
Ryan came to the band as a substitute, and was never allowed to leave. His precise, powerful playing fit the vibe…perfectly. He worked with Endive and teaches high school marching band north of Cincinnati.

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