I’ll never be an Old Man River. Never. Not because I don’t wanna, but because I can’t sing, my guitar skills are shonky, and I dunno how to just ‘roll along’. But I know a guy that can. And that’s Old Man River. Crazy eh?

I reckon 2004’s EP ‘Sunshine’, was one of the most understated Aussie releases of the year. The title song was a sparkly little gem that pretty much provided the soundtrack for my summer in ‘04-’05.

Sunshine (If you don’t have this song yet, then your summer clearly sucked balls)

After playing SXSW last year, and touring with the likes of Gomez, Sleepy Jackson, Iron and Wine, and Gelbison, they’re back this month with a new EP, ‘Trouser’.

Old Man River are pretty much Ohad Rein, a Sydney based singer songwriter. I’d say OMR are best described as a wholegrain sandwich, with sparse, but diverse fillings (have we pushed the sandwich metaphor far enough yet? No way!). Lots of crunchy home-grown veges and maybe some lashings of India’s finest chicken tikka.

Now, I know Marc is a big fan of the handclaps, and we all love a bit of cowbell, but one of my favourite devices employed in acoustic music, is the boisterous sing-a-long. You know the ones, where it sounds like the band have been up snorting tequila at the studio, haven’t slept in days, and are just ad-libbing their way through (a personal fave being Gomez’s ‘Get Myself Arrested’). OMR have done a tidy little number themselves on the new EP, called “La” (with handclaps too!).
Though they could have tried more tequila.

Trousers

La

A debut album is on the way in a few months..

Heres the MySpace

Heres where youse can buy the album

Also, a big shout out to everyone that made the first SCLUB night the success it was. Photos on the way.

Labels: Old Man River