THE OH HELLOS
how i found them and my journey with their music
amateur analysis abound!
the only internal links that work are the boreas and wheel of time ones, where the writing is incomplete.
i found their music through wolfythewitch's animatics/WIPs: zephyrus and new river respectively. after finding the zephyrus WIP (WIP means work in progress, by the way) i happily added it to my music player, divorced from the context of the album and collection it came from. at the time, i mainly liked the song because of aesthetics, and didn't really think about analysis and artistic context while listening to music in general. i used to think that new river was what got me to actually think about listening to their albums, but my memory is very bad sometimes.
one day, i found a playlist of the four winds albums, which i would listen to while i worked on my computer. i was trying to get into the crane wives at the time, but the oh hellos are what i listened to first, for about half a year.
the blend of biblical and greco-roman references in their music was something i never saw before, which made me appreciate biblical mythology in a new light. i was raised as a muslim, and felt slightly stand-offish around biblical mythology, viewing it as a copy that was made for a european audience (as i learned the islamic versions first and many islamic and biblical stories are extremely similar). over time, i started to view both in a more equal light. instead of biblical myths being a derivative of islamic myths, i now believe them to be variations of the same stories- with the islamic myths coming much later.
the oh hellos' music is often multifaceted, with many different lenses of interpretation (probably just called themes) in a single album (see: dear wormwood). i interpret their album notos to be about fear of the unknown, false perspectives, and learning to embrace change, but you could listen to their music and hear something different. it's like chrome vinyl, where the colours you see depend on where you're looking at it from.
in this shrine, i may write about my feelings about their music, and include media relating to them. if you want to support them, refer to the links in the header :D
THE FOUR WINDS
i'll put my collective feelings on the albums up here, while i'll sort my thoughts into the little categories below.
the four winds were the first thing i listened of the oh hellos, other than soldier, poet, king (their most popular song), and it has permanently changed my psyche. notos helped me understand how slow change can really be, and how wonderful it is- revisited by theseus in the final album zephyrus. eurus showed me that we are ultimately deserving of love, respect, redemption, even with what we've done. boreas made me feel less alone in the struggle against apathy. zephyrus gave me earnesty without shame. all while i was on the bus on the way to school. i've been listening to this album collection for over a year but it feels like way more. when i listen to hieroglyphs i want to scream in unison. i want to live laugh and love, and i'm not joking. there was a reason to care when there was passerine and boreas. there was no stagnation when there was new river. no wallowing when glowing and zephyrus were there. it's been a great source of comfort to know that i am wrong, but my being is not immutable, and there was no point in believing that there was a true way to be right.
click headers to view more
NOTOS
an album of summer: storms of human and geological nature, the flaws of communication, being reforged
EURUS
an album of autumn: realising that the world was always sacred, worthy of care and protection. and so were you. what are you doing to yourself? what are the consequences of your actions? can you fix them?
BOREAS
an album of winter: hibernation, choosing to change in preparation for the rebirth of spring.
ZEPHYRUS
an album of spring: rebirth, joy and love of humanity, be assured that we will all be okay in the end.
THE WHEEL OF TIME
BOREAS
a kindling, of sorts is such a great start to the album!! the instruments set the tone immediately! i love the instruments in boreas - they are very well-picked (pun intended) and they work so well together! and the next song is called cold, which is interesting to think about! is it to emphasise that the kindling isn't a kindling of fire, or to indicate that the kindling failed, or both? many things to think about... notice that this album is the quietest album out of the four.
i used to think that the kindling is more a kindling of spirit instead of fire, but honestly? it works regardless of what you think.
the first verses of cold, to me, are about the feeling of cold slowly numbing you and slowing personal growth, but at the end of the song they explain that they're not ready for the winter, and in order to surivive they're going to have to change. i don't know why they pronounce charon like that, but the rest isn't that much of a mystery.
lapis lazuli was my definite favourite of this album for a long time, but glowing recently may have overtaken that spot. i have feelings about it that i cannot explain right now.
it took me a while to warm up (haha) to rose, not going to lie to you. because of that, i'm a bit behind on actually talking about it, even though i've been listening to this album since the end of 2022. let's move on! guessing the kindling succeeded based on the title of smoke rising like lifted hands!
one of my friends would call boreas the title track, because it is a track with the title of the album. i need to take special consideration with this one accordingly.
glowing is became my favourite of this album, putting lapis lazuli in second place, so i want to do it justice.
THE WHEEL OF TIME
wheels are mentioned often.
- over and over again / we keep that old wheel turning / over and over again / we lay the next spoke down / over and over again (oceans will roll in) / over and over again / we spin it around - torches, notos
- as fortuna sits idly by / i spin her wheel with all my might / crushing my kin for warring-wage / minted from the ivory of your tooth and eye - eurus
- to maybe consider our bodies are worth / more than the dust that we can return to the ground again / around again / we turn that old wheel round again
i've seen the day's fading begin / the gradient wake of the sun that spins around again / it'll burn that old wheel down in the end - hieroglyphs, eurus - round, around, around again / will you start where i end?