Historical Portraits of Children // The Truth is a Cave – The Oh Hellos

Four Children Making Music – attributed to the master of the Countess of Warwick, 1565 // Three Children with a Dog or Two Sisters and a Brother of the Artist – Sofonisba Anguissola, 1570-1590 // The Children of Philip III of Spain (Ferdinand, Alfonso, and Margarita) – Bartolomé González y Serrano, 1612 // Three Children with a Goat-Cart – Frans Hals, 1620 // The Balbi Children – Anthony van Dyck, 1625-1627 // The Three Eldest Children of Charles I – Anthony van Dyck, 1635-1636 // Five Eldest Children of Charles I – Anthony van Dyck, 1637 // Portrait of the Children of Habert de Montmor – Philippe de Champaigne, 1649 // Group Portrait of Charlotte Eleonora zu Dohna, Amalia Louisa zu Dohna, and Friedrich Christoph zu Dohna-Carwinden – Pieter Nason, 1667 // The Graham Children – William Hogarth, 1742 // Portrait of Sir Edward Walpole’s Children – Stephen Slaughter, 1747 // The Bateson Children – Strickland Lowry, 1762 // The Gower Family: The Five Youngest Children of the 2nd Earl Gower – George Romney, 1776-1777 // Marie-Antoinette de Lorraine-Habsbourg, Queen of France, and Her Children – Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1787 // The Marsham Children – Thomas Gainsborough, 1787 // The Oddie Children – William Beechey, 1789 // Three Siblings – Johann Nepomuk Mayer, 1846 // Happy Children – Paul Barthel, 1898 // My Children – Joaquín Sorolla, 1904 // The Truth is a Cave – The Oh Hellos

If I had a nickel for every time a folk band I adored released an album meant to be listened to in order, which tells the story of the fall of man/ a prodigal son character (one of them is both), started with man being close to God then followed his journey of rejecting him, realizing his life was empty without him, and eventually returning back to God, had consistent themes and motifs woven through it, and ended with a reprise of the first song to represent the restoration of fellowship,

I'd only have two nickels

but it is weird that it happened twice

EVERYONE I JUST NOTICED SOMETHING REALLY COOL

So these are the Anemoi album covers, right? Do you notice a similarity between all of them?

Yes, they all have animals surrounded by a gold ring on them. Obviously there is a lot of symbolism involved with these specific animals and their respective albums, but that’s a whole other conversation.

Right now I want to point out the gold ring— more importantly, how is it changing as the albums progress?

In Notos, the thicker portion of the ring is in the bottom right corner.

In Eurus, that portion is in the top right corner.

In Boreas, it’s in the top left corner.

And in Zephyrus, it’s in the bottom left corner.

THE RING IS GOING IN A CIRCUIT!!!

The thick portion of the ring is moving counterclockwise with each album! And if you go back to Notos after Zephyrus, it’ll be right back at where it started!

This is yet another symbol of the Anemoi albums’ themes of change, cycles, etc. AND IT’S HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT!

How COOL is that??? I just noticed!!

This is even crazier when you add on the fact that the final song you listen to, after going through all the albums, is Rounds.

And what is the ring doing? MAKING ROUNDS!! Going around and around as you keep replaying the albums, repeating the cycle of summer to fall to winter to spring to summer over and over again just as The Oh Hellos intended to convey :)

More of me running my mouth about music as inspiration except this time its just Dear Wormwood

Prelude. Prelude. PRELUDE. This is probably just a music nerd thing but its so perfect. Despite my horrible understanding of music theory, a prelude is usually the first piece of music that is meant to represent the succeeding and usually longer movements in a single work, but they could also stand alone. The Prelude to Dear Wormwood works as both. It starts out quiet before building up with just absolutely amazing wordless vocals and its just so great folks. Its a summary of the whole album in a minute and nine seconds its amazing folks

Okay Bitter Water. The first time I heard this one I thought oh, its a metaphor for alcoholism. Yes, it can be a metaphor for alcoholism, but it is also so much more. In the broader context of Dear Wormwood its an acknowledgement of how bad a relationship is and that the singer, the victim, feels like they can never escape it, but it can be so much more folks. It can be a about a love lost, with the one who lost the love pining and wasting away without their soulmate. Said soulmate could be a part of the griever themself. It can be so much. Its also a banger but thats a given for the whole album. “terrible fire of old regret is honey on my tongue” is also eternally amazing this whole thing is poetry mates

There Beneath. Calm and flowy and existential kind of but I make a lot of things existential and where were we? But also the line “I saw the morning lead a cavalcade” is bloody amazing. Its such a great and poetic way to describe the breaking dawn, the rising sun, the beginning of a new day and so many other things mates its amazing. Like a veteran adventurer recalling the times when their friends got them out of hard scrapes or something idk

In the Blue Hours of the Morning. It’s a nice waypoint, a chance to catch your breath before the next song which I will go off about but this bit is really just like its title. The time before the cavalcade, when theres still enough light to see by yet its so calm and still and not quite awake yet

Exeunt, which is. It is. Well, exactly what it says on the tin, an exeunt, which is a stage direction for when an actor goes off stage, but its also the most poetry ever. Everyone loves “Fluttering your lashes like ashes and ember” and rightfully so but everything in that song is so bloody strong. “Crocodile eyes I have seen how you hunger”???? “No I cannot trust what you say when youre grieving”????? Like its such a powerful song with all the musicians going ham on the everything and then the lyrics and then the context? Its great its just great

Caesar. A calm follow-up to the headbanger that is Exeunt, but its no less amazing. Im just drowning in symbolism for this one mates. Not only is the morning back and breaking over a palisade but also historical references!?! The backlogs of random anecdotes and stories are tickled awake by the “Look to the sky where the sign will be shown” bit so much like it aint even funny. Its a reference to Constantine the Great, who saw the symbol of the Chi Rho and went on to become roman emperor with it painted on his shields and its so much potential in just three stanzas

This Will End. Fellows this one just hurts. Its so bloody sad and yet such a strangely jaunty tune like the singer has just accepted their sad life and Im always like no! It can get better! You just gotta try a bit! Mates! Im bleeding out!

Pale White Horse. Ohhhhhhhhhh I can get so deep about Pale White Horse but so much of it is about WWI and the Spanish Flu Epidemic and other stuff I do not care to dredge from the depths of my historical brain fluids but its so great as a thing about war and trauma and abuse and so much other stuff just like recognizing someone doing something terrible and that can be either interpreted as oh thats conformation that they were always terrible or oh goodness thats not possible why no why are you like this you are not like this right and there’s no in between. And both hurt!

Where Is Your Rider. Enough metaphors to fill a graveyard (hey Crane Wives fans. Hey. Did you get it? Eh? Idk I thought it was funny) and then some but also oooooh the lines just go so hard sometimes. “But these bones never rested while living / So how can they stand to languish in repose”???????? Like mate youre dead but youre still going to push on and keep on fighting mates it hurts it hurts too much there are too many characters and situations and just stray thoughts I can peg to these two lines alone help

Soldier, Poet, King. Need I say more? Yes, I need to say more. Everyone above and below knows how bloody legendary this song is but take this as a sign to listen to it again. Its just that good. Someone once tired and broken who has found support and is coming back to finish the job they couldnt finish on their own is just oooooooooooooogh mates. Also funny ha ha DND party. Two sides of the same polyhedral dice. Probably a d100 with all the nonsense I can drag out of it at this point.

Dear Wormwood. The album namer. UGH I cannot get enough of this one. Just some of the lines in this one mates. “And in my hour of weakness / You were there to see me fail”???????? “I know who I am now / I know who I wanna be / I wanna be more than / That devil inside of me”??????????????????? Its just so perfect and so amazing and it gives you a warn hug and it punches you in the gut and it helps you up and gives you hot tea and the works mates its just so great

Danse Macabre. One last instrumental. A Danse Macabre was usually a piece of art with people dancing next to skeletons, representing the inevitability of death and the equality in the grave and so many other sad and mopey things but also its just such a fun jig. It really does feel like a bunch of spooky scary skeletons jamming on their graves. And that’s a one liner I never thought Id need to write.

Thus Always to Tyrants. Bloody hell this is the perfect ending song. The singer immediately starting off with “Let me die, let me drown, leave my bones in the ground”, proclaiming themselves free of the worries and pains they started the album with, singing as the blazing sun rises that yes, they are, if not happy now, then at least better now, and that anyone who threatens that will face the new and improved them is just ooooooogh. Mates. If theres one song you need to listen to if you somehow made it to the end of this thingie without also being obsessed with the Oh Hellos, its Thus Always to Tyrants. But please listen to the whole of Dear Wormwood first. It makes the impact so much better.

Thank you to @moonchild-in-blue and @lifemod17 for tagging me <33

-> Using only song titles of one artist or band, answer the questions!

Artist: The Oh Hellos

What is your gender: Passerine

How do you feel: This Will End

If you could go anywhere: On The Mountain Tall

Favourite mode of transportation: Trees

Your best friend: Hello My Old Heart

Favourite time of day: Like The Dawn

If your life was a TV show: The Lament of Eustace Scrubb OR I Have Made Mistakes

Relationship status: Caesar

Your fear: I was wrong

Some no pressure tags are @hookedhobbies @branches-in-a-flood @cinnamo6 @kkarmatic @missilesilo and anyone else who wants to join :D

yeah

THE NEW ALBUM BY THE OH HELLOS IS OUT

Listening to the Oh Hellos' albums in order for the first time in. Months. Has made me appreciate the work gone into making the sorry of each album. Like. They all blend into one big song split up only by the end of the track. Especially Dear Wormwood and Through the Deep Dark Valley

favourite oh hellos album. go.

AHHHHHHH

Thanks for getting me into The Oh Hellos <3 They sound great

YES anon!! my vision is for the world to see that they are more than just hello my old heart and soldier poet king

EXTENDED - The Fool Who Got Married

The Year is 1848...

...and gold has been struck in California. Your husband has decided now would be the time to catch his fortune, and he wants you to come with him. Of course. you agree, you love him after all. 

...and your family member's husband is on the hunt for gold. What's she going to do? Say no? This could be the key to their better life. You have to let her go. 

The Extended Edition...

...allows you to play one of five different types of characters. 

The game is about historical female hardship and how women stay connected even when they become members of their husbands family before their own. 

The game and story is told through writing letters. This is a two- or more- player game where each person plays a female familial archetype. Someone has to be the bride leaving her family, but there are four options for the other player(s).

The Four Options:

Mother, Sister, Aunt, and Mother-in-Law

Gameplay

This game is played by using music as the storytelling and mechanical device. To play you will need a way to send letters to each other, access to the albums, and something to write with.

Let The Music Lead You.

Music You Will Need Access To: The Crane Wives discography and Through the Deep, Dark Valley by The Oh Hellos.

Get the Game Now on Itch.io!

Thought I’d share these for anyone who hasn’t seen them :) They’re the official descriptions for each of the Anemoi albums on The Oh Hellos’ website!

Notos

Notos, the first installment in an ongoing series, is named for the ancient Greco-Roman god of the south wind, who brought storms in the summer. Musically, the record draws from the siblings' memories of summers spent exploring the Pacific Northwest with their grandparents, as well as their experiences with the frequent threat of hurricanes as they grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast. Thematically, the series considers the question: "where did our ideas come from?" Notos recounts a time when the duo weren't even aware there was a question to ask, and reflects on the backfire effect we experience when confronted with new information for the first time.

Eurus

Once that first question posed in the Notos EP is asked — "where did my ideas come from?" — it opens the floodgates to more. While wrestling with them all can ultimately lead to a fuller understanding of the world around you (and leave you with more empathy than you started with), it can also leave you feeling alienated from the communities you used to identify with. Eurus, released in early 2018 as the second installment in a series, is a continued interrogation of our own beliefs, and as Eurus was the wind most closely associated with autumn, the record seeks to capture the feelings of dark woods, dry branches, dead leaves, and wondering who had migrated — you, or your flock?

Boreas

Boreas, the northern wind, ushered in the harsh frosts of lonely winter. The arrangements of this third installment evoke images of snow-blanketed darkness, candlelight behind cupped hands, and a vast night sky ribboned with stars and auroras. As we wrote these songs, we found ourselves confronted with the ways we’ve personally and communally reflected the character of this wind — how we often avoid discomfort, even at the expense of others, until we are left cold, hard, and unfeeling. In this record, we ask the winter to instead kindle us into something warmer and softer than who we’ve been.

Zephyrus

The series concludes. Zephyrus, the final cardinal wind of this project, brought the gentle warmth of spring that summoned up a new year of growth rooted in the fertile ashes of all the structures that keep us isolated and unfeeling — the kind of growth we can see in ourselves, if we can muster the courage to be vulnerable. The arrangements mirror and embrace this shift, rising up like tender leaves breaking through concrete and cascading down like mountain rivers surging with the first thaw of the season. It’s been a long year; thanks for listening.

Truly Through the Deep, Dark Valley is the album of all. Time. The transition between The Truth is a Cave and The Valley (Reprise) ALONE makes this tru

when the pawn… — fiona apple / surrealistic pillow — jefferson airplane / death chants, breakdowns & military waltzes — john fahey / howlin’ wolf — howlin’ wolf / alas I cannot swim — laura marling / blacklisted — neko case / saudade — thievery corporation / unreal unearth — hozier / through the deep, dark valley — the oh hellos

top 9 albums of 2023 / tagged by darlin @fruityindividual / tagging @lynxindisguise @impishtubist @divinerapturee @pjxckson @angelfruittree @plecotusauritus @kaaaaaaarf @babblingflowers @worldenough-and-time @femme--de--lettres

I've to say, this album art for the remake of Through The Deep Dark Valley is beautiful.