There’s something great about bands you can’t quite pin down. Florida’s the OaKs are one of those bands- despite generally having an indie folk-rock sound, little touches of all sorts of different styles creep in. The six-piece band has three big strengths that make their second album, Songs for Waiting, worth checking out. First is lead singer Ryan Costello’s storytelling- he weaves together tracks that range from historical to personal to literary. His personal experience, including two years living in Afghanistan, allow him to paint vivid pictures of the people he’s met, such as in the track “Masood” where he creates a composite character that blends an Afghan war hero and a young man trying to care for his family. The other two strengths are the percussion and the arrangements. The drums and arrangements are strong and creative yet never showy, always working towards building up the song from within. All of this adds up to the kind of music that doesn’t necessarily grab you up front, but slowly reveals its simple pleasures upon repeated listens. I’ve included a couple of samples, but I’d recommend going to the link below to hear the whole album. Enjoy!
From Songs for Waiting
MP3: The OaKs:: “The Two Calls (Of Dietrich Bonhoeffer)”
MP3: The OaKs:: “Masood”
You can stream the whole album right here.
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i heard them on PRI’s Fair Game on NPR live… go there and you can get 3 live songs recorded there. For Free!
In their interview with Faith Sale, they said all the songs revolve around the people the lead singer met in Afghanistan while working as an aid worker. Listen to the lyrics (especially Masood!) and the titles and lyrics all make sense.