I'm back with a new song of the week. This week I chose a song that spontaneously appeared in my inbox. I'm really excited to see that bands are already finding me even though I've only just started this blog! I really enjoy receiving emails like this, so thank you for that, it is really appreciated!
About Oh Hazar
Today I'm going to introduce you to Oh Hazar, who released their first single, "Ivory", on Friday June 23rd, a brand new new band. More about that later, because let us start by introducing the band. The band consists of Imke Loeffen (vocals & guitar), Stefan Kollee (guitar & vocals) and Imanishi Kleinmeulman (drummer). If you look at the individual careers of these three artists, you will see that this band consists of seasoned artists. For example, Imke previously had success with Bootleg Betty, Stefan is also the frontman of The Naked Sweat Drips with whom he released 2 albums and Imanishi played drums with The Grand East. The talent is oozing from this band, and that can also be heard on this first single.
Live and in the studio the band is assisted by Pauline Timmerbeil and Judith Renkema both on bass. At first I found the band name a bit confusing, because I felt like there should be a D after the R. The band derived their name from one of their sources of inspiration, a song by the experimental band Dans Dans, called Au Hasard (see, there's that D).
The single "Ivory"
Now that we have introduced the band to you, we must of course talk about this single "Ivory", a song with which they immediately pointed out the abuse of power within the cultural sector. A subject I don't know much about, but it makes me curious to find out. What the band wants to say about this is the following:
"In an ivory tower, one person in power places himself above the other. That creates distance, but also loneliness. From such a position, people start doing crazy things and relationships become skewed. It's high time to put this right." - says frontwoman Imke Loeffen.
This makes me curious about what they will say next on their debut album, which will be called "Clair Obscur". The band is described as art pop, but I personally think it is a wonderful mix between pop, rock and psychedelic influences. This single brings innovation, a nice bass, the screeching guitars paired with Imke's warm sounds makes for an intriguing song. The video clip shown below was shot at Luxor Live a venue in Arnhem, I love the lighting in this video, very atmospheric and perfect match for the music.
Want to see Oh Hazar live?
They will be playing at Valkenhof festival at the 16th of July and also they have planned a show in Oktober in Aalten on the 7th, Iron Jinn will be playing there as well on the same evening, another band I love.
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