Curve of Earth

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While Curve of Earth comes advertised as the official debut album of indie country-rock trio Ohtis, it follows a handful of D.I.Y. releases from the band during the 2000s while they were still based in their hometown of Normal, Illinois. Mostly inactive from 2009 to 2016 except for working on songs by trading ideas and fragments online, Ohtis members had dispersed to other states before deciding to regroup to try out new material on the road. In the meantime, lead singer Sam Swinson spent some time in rehab, battling an addiction that's one of the hardships featured prominently here. Also notable are Curve of Earth's religious themes, inspired by Swinson's upbringing in what the band describes as a fundamentalist cult. While the subject matter may sound heavy, hard-earned lyrics are delivered throughout the album with a relaxed, affable tone befitting the group's twangy, sauntering indie rock. All of the above applies to "Rehab," a song that combines these topics in frustrated lyrics that can't help begging for forgiveness and bargaining with an absent figure ("If I go to rehab/Will you make me belong?"). Meanwhile, the song's musical jauntiness helps provide a more mocking, playful tone in the context of jangly strummed guitar, a lively bass line, and syncopated percussion. As if to underscore this, the choruses' ah-ahs transform to "ha" by the end of each phrase. Elsewhere, the more somber "Little Sister" and its arrangement of acoustic guitar, violin, and cello still has a warmth and sweetness to it that also permeates the record. It was one of four tracks that Swinson recorded himself on a handheld recorder as opposed to the remaining four songs, which were tracked in a Nashville studio. This mix of bright and homespun is another one of the album's charms, though, importantly, the studio cuts avoid excessive slickness, remaining in the record's small-town setting. Curve of Earth climaxes with the penultimate "Junkie Heaven," the album's longest track at six minutes. Its deliberate tempo supports a dreamy soundscape that blends steel, electric, and acoustic guitars, piano, synths, backing vocals, and more. When the record then closes on the cautionary yet, again, playful "Serenity Prayer," it's a satisfying ending to a 30-minute set that plays like a character-centered short story. ~ Marcy Donelson