OHTIS and Johanna Samuels

An early evening alt-folk show with OHTIS and Johanna Samuels! PLEASE NOTE: For the safety of our customers, we will be requiring proof of full COVID vaccination to enter the venue, until further notice. More details at holocene.org/vaccine Ohtis—an alt-folk trio variously from Los Angeles, Detroit, and Chicago—call “Schatze” a “character study of the Selfish Antisocial Male.” Its call-and-response format is catchy and colloquial, like a DIY rock playground rhyme. “Schatz” is a term of endearment in German, but Ohtis borrowed the song’s name from a friend’s violently unfriendly cat (German: “Katze”). Listening to “Schatze,” one imagines that all the assholes of the world—ungrateful pets, disgraced celebrities, Donald Trump Jr.—might become briefly, astonishingly self-aware. What if they, too, could hear Chura’s acrid critiques ringing in their ears, exposing the angry, defensive little creature clawing its way out from inside each of us? A wholly personal document, her new album Excelsior! finds LA-via-NYC songwriter Johanna Samuels exploring the nuances of her interpersonal relationships and the importance of listening to each other. The album was recorded deep in winter, snowed-in at producer Sam Evian’s upstate New York cabin, soon to be called Flying Cloud. Recorded mostly live to tape with Samuels’ band ~ Harrison Whitford (guitars), Garret Lang (bass), and Sean Mullins (drums) ~ it was Evian's first full-length production at his new cabin studio. Excelsior! is as gently elegant as we’ve come to expect from Evian’s own records, but it’s driven by Samuels’ easy yet arresting melodicism and confidently vulnerable delivery. Just as the songs on Excelsior! seek answers through companionship, Samuels calls upon a handful of womxn to provide the album’s backing vocals—a task she’d always performed herself until now. Excelsior! makes space for the voices of Courtney Marie Andrews, Hannah Cohen, A.O. Gerber, Olivia Kaplan, Maví Lou, and Lomelda’s Hannah Read. The album was released May 14th, 2021 on Portland's own Mama Bird Recording Co. (US/World) and Basin Rock (UK/EU),