Riverside Battle Songs reflects the substantial growth that Ollabelle has undergone since recording their debut effort. "The new record, to me, sounds more like us," says McBain. "When we made the first one, we weren't really a band, and our collaboration was new and a little timid. Now, three years down the track, there's been a natural evolution in both the music and our personal relationships, and I think that you can hear that on this record."
The band credits the new album's confident vibe to the extensive roadwork that followed their first release. "The first album was made by a group of people who were just getting to know each other, personally as well as musically," Tony Leone notes. "But Riverside Battle Songs is a strong representation of where we are now, and who we are as writers, singers and players."
Riverside Battle Songs' compelling songcraft and organic performances demonstrate the potent musical and personal rapport that continues to fuel Ollabelle's creative process. The group originally grew out of an informal assemblage of singers and players who came together to play traditional gospel songs at a weekly jam at the East Village bar 9C. That event became a welcome source of positivity amidst the darkness that hung over downtown Manhattan in the months following September 11, 2001.
Like its predecessor, Riverside Battle Songs eschews extraneous production frills in favor of spare arrangements that showcase the substance of the band's vocal and instrumental interaction. The album's birth cycle began in November 2004, when the quintet retreated to Woodstock to work on new material, living and writing communally in a rented house and cutting rough demos in a studio-equipped barn owned by Amy's father, legendary singer/drummer Levon Helm of The Band.
"We wrote together around the fire, the kitchen table, early in the morning and late at night," McBain recalls. "Then we came back to Brooklyn and made demo recordings at my house. We started with about 30 songs, and when Larry Campbell got involved, we culled it down to about 17 and started working on those in April 2005. It's been a long road to get the record done, but I think that the effort was worthwhile."
"I think that this record truly shows who we are as a band," Leone states. "With five people contributing words, music, voices and ideas, that's always a lot of opinions to filter into one brew, but I think we're all pretty proud of the end result. Having Larry Campbell on board was a real privilege, and his involvement was vital in the arrangements and the realization of each tune. We did a lot of pre-production work with him, and he had the difficult task of being the conduit for everyone's ideas and opinions. Every song was put through the shredder and built up and torn down numerous times, including some that we had been playing live for a couple of years."
As Riverside Battle Songs makes clear, Ollabelle has matured into a one-of-a-kind ensemble with an uncanny ability to communicate such heady truths in a manner that's both accessible and inspiring.
"The gestation period for this record has been so long that we can't wait to go out and play these songs," McBain enthuses. "If there's one thing I've learned about this band, it's that it continues to grow in its own unpredictable direction, and we're eager to get out and share that with people."
"The band is still constantly changing, and we never play the songs the same way twice," says Patscha. "We try our damndest to be honest with each other and to the music, and I like to think that people can hear that. We're still basically a group of friends who love to play music together. At the end of the day, the greatest reward for a musician is the feeling that people are truly listening, and returning a feeling to complete the cycle. What a gift it is that we get to experience that feeling through this band."
