Album Review: The Ophelias Sing To “Almost” Being An Adult
The Ophelias formed while still in high school. Bassist Grace Weir, guitarist/lyricist Spencer Peppet, percussionist Micaela Adams, and violinist Andrea Gutmann Fuentes first met at a time when each were independently serving as the “token girl” in various dude-bands from their hometown of Cincinnati, OH. I mention this backstory because it interplays into the general feel of their new album, Almost.
As young women “adulting” through life, there is a constant feeling of being “close but no dice”. Men are not saved or devoid of the similar, gnawing feeling that you are not where or who you want to be in life, and that being “on the cusp” is not cutting it. Yet, when you are woman, there is an added, systemic layer to this feeling; as if the billions of rejections we all receive in life, as human beings, are coated with a casually constructed dismissiveness. Almost is for the young women/ persons that feel like they are too easily unseen, and takes the perspective of a wallflower blooming before her OWN EYES!
“Moon Like Sour Candy,” “Lover’s Creep”, and “Night Signs” buzz, fuzz, and froth through young adult tensions. You can simply picture the droves of young women that have to walk through highshool halls, and fight like hell to not quietly chip at their own esteem. Yet, they fall so magnificently and deeply for their crushes and dreams. Peppet’s lyrics and voice subtly wrench these sentiments like a hand twisting a towel, which gives the album a breezed angst. Moreover, it builds what it is to carry the idea that so many young girls have ingrained in their mind: we are supposed to be dismissed.
Growing up is gloriously hard, but when you are apart of a group that is not seen as “persons” and thus “beings that grow,” it can particularly tricky. Sonically, the Ophelias’ Almost is warm, lovely, and even dreamy like a Greta Gerwig musical on growing up female. This album would certainly be in Ladybird’s collection. For More Information The Ophelias’ Almost, which comes out July 13, Click Here.
