Hello Ocho released their new album, In Portuguese on April 1. Check out the video for the track "Tear Wagon" below.
The rich and varied story of Hello Ocho stretches back to 2010, when the band was a trio comprised of Chris Yonker (vocals, guitar), John Gregg (drums) and Clinton Callahan (bass). At that time, though, the band still had a fourth unofficial member - the computer. On their 2013 self-titled debut, the songwriting process consisted of each member finding a niche within a backing track used to set the mood, but the group has since ditched the relative comfort of computers and backing tracks in favor of newer members Chris Childs (vibraphone/percussion) and Christian Shepherd (synths, vocals). In Portuguese also features frequent collaborator Peter Webb on the Rhodes piano. The inclusion of Childs and Shepherd led to more organic compositions, and it opened the floodgates for the wild, tuneful experimentation that has become a hallmark of their sound.
Hello Ocho's members have all come a long way since their humble beginnings - Yonker and Shepherd now run the prominent Atlanta art gallery and venue Mammal Gallery, and the other members perform in a dizzying array of other groups (Faun and a Pan Flute, Small Reactions, Aalborg Group, Palm Lines). Childs even conducts his own 28-piece chamber orchestra, the aptly named Chris Childs Orchestra. For all the changes, though, the one constant has been the calculated (yet somehow still reckless) abandon with which the group approaches songwriting.
You can pick up In Portuguese HERE.
