Introducing #181 - Ophelia — When The Horn Blows

Let us introduce you further to Leeds-based solo artist Ophelia, who earlier this premiered their debut single ‘Japanese Peru’ through When the Horn Blows. Now he’s back with new single ‘Man On Mountain’ to take a minute to allow us to dig deeper into all things Ophelia.

Hey Ophelia, how are you? So your new single ‘Man On Mountain’ is out now - can you tell us what it is about?

I’m pretty much ok thanks, got myself some coffee and some apple and I think today is going to be ok. My new single is out yeh, it’s about people not realising their privilege and telling other people who aren’t as fortunate how they should be living their life.

You are based out of Leeds in West Yorkshire, can you tell us your favourite things to do there, aside from making music of course.

I love living in Leeds because I feel like there are two very different options of what to do with a free bit of time. You can either go into the city and do all the fun city stuff (let’s be honest - drink until the places shut) or you can travel for like 10/15 minutes and be in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside and just walk around looking at things and saying ‘alright’ to people who walk by with dogs.

Your also a member of Talkboy, a band our readers will be familiar with. How do the two differ?

A good question, one that I’m not really sure of the answer to. I started this project just because I thought it would be weird if anyone else sang these songs and I just wanted to do more music stuff in general. I think this EP came out a bit more laid back and quiet than the Talkboy stuff, it seemed to naturally go down a bit more of a 70’s Philly route.

What are your key influences when it comes to your music?

I got really big into Neil Young about four years ago and still haven’t really moved on. I think his vocal performances in particular really spoke to me in a way that not many vocalists do. I’m not a massive fan of these people with what is considered to be traditionally ‘strong’ voices, for some reason I don’t really believe them as much. I also can’t talk about influences without bringing up The Band, many a late night has been spent with friends watching clips from The Last Waltz and trying to figure out how Levon Helm held down those beats while singing absolutely earth shatteringly well. I also have just arrived late to the Haim party, I just love a great set of songs ya know?

Now the track is out there - what next for you?

There are a few more tracks from this set of recordings ready to be released which is fun and exciting. I don’t know what the plan is really. This was always just something that I did because I wanted to record more tunes and then whatever happened on top of that was a bonus. I’m figuring out what would be the best way to play these songs live because I’d love to do that, hopefully before the end of this year.