#final anemoi album!

[pinebeetles]

Zephyrus first listen thoughts!

-Rio Grande: Maggie did not come to play with these vocals she sounds SO GOOD. I love the energy!

-Holding on Where I Am Able: I wish this was longer I love the strings!! Very different from all the other instrumentals

-Theseus: “whatever kingdom come it won’t come quick” reference to Glowing? “It’s gonna hurt like hell to become well” oof. Love the final chorus.

-Zephyrus: gorgeous, gorgeous song. “We are matter and it matters” Hieroglyphs reference?

-Murmurations/Reading the Augury: amongst my favorite instrumentals. LOVE the transition to Soap

-Soap: I’ve had this song on constant repeat for the last two weeks. Easily top 10, maybe a top 5 song for me.

-Rounds: not as high energy as I was expecting. Beautiful instrumentals. Brought back themes from Boreas most noticeably, but the cyclical theme from Notos and Eurus is there too

Overall thoughts: What a perfect conclusion to the Anemoi series. I can’t wait to dig into these lyrics some more. Favorite song is either Rio Grande or Soap. Undecided where this ranks amongst the other Anemoi albums. I’m forever grateful to Maggie and Tyler for their music.

[soapcan18]

What I love abt Soap is not just that it’s called Soap and I love that silly ahh song name but bc it’s abt the narrator singing to the listener (probably their lover) how normally oil and water don’t mix BUT they do in order to make soap! So if the narrator and the listener (oil and water) put in the work they can make soap AKA their relationship work, PLUS there’s another layer to it since soap cleans, so the “soap” they create can heal their wounds and the pain they‘ve both gone through throughout their lives :)

ALSO the narrator has gone through three albums (even more if you consider this narrator to be the same one from the earlier LPs) of trauma and growth prior to this song and now they can finally pass everything they’ve learned to the listener so they don’t go through the same pain they did! And the last lyrics are “it’s gonna hurt like hell, but we’re gonna be well, I’ll give you my best shot” LIKE YES ITS GONNA BE HARD TO CHANGE BUT WE’RE GONNA DO IT TOGETHER also the “chorus” (if u wanna call it that) that the narrator repeats is “I think that you’re worth keeping around” LIKE AHHH IT’S JUST SUCH A SWEET SONG!!

Also I’m REALLY insane about the fact that in the song prior to Soap, Zephyrus, the narrator sings “So let me meltdown like mountain glaciers, break the bonds I've been holding onto” and THEN in Soap they sing “I think your worth holding onto” in the chorus. THEY’VE LET GO OF THE TOXIC UNHEALTHY COMMUNITY AND BELIEFS THEY USED TO BE ATTACHED TO AND ARE NOW HOLDING ONTO THE LISTENER AND THEIR NEW COMMUNITY THAT ARE GOOD FOR THEM!! It’s just a minor lyric connection and there’s tons of them in this song but I noticed that one recently and I love it

TL;DR Soap is an amazing song and The Oh Hellos are geniuses and you should listen to it and all their albums <3

[soapcan18]

No bc “if I’m kindling for a little while at least I’d feel of use??” “Maybe then my breath could embody a wildfire starting??” WHAT WERE THEY ON WRITING BOREAS GOD THAT SONG HURTS

[soapcan18]

EVERYONE I JUST NOTICED SOMETHING REALLY COOL

So these are the Anemoi album covers, right? Do you notice a similarity between all of them?

Yes, they all have animals surrounded by a gold ring on them. Obviously there is a lot of symbolism involved with these specific animals and their respective albums, but that’s a whole other conversation.

Right now I want to point out the gold ring— more importantly, how is it changing as the albums progress?

In Notos, the thicker portion of the ring is in the bottom right corner.

In Eurus, that portion is in the top right corner.

In Boreas, it’s in the top left corner.

And in Zephyrus, it’s in the bottom left corner.

THE RING IS GOING IN A CIRCUIT!!!

The thick portion of the ring is moving counterclockwise with each album! And if you go back to Notos after Zephyrus, it’ll be right back at where it started!

This is yet another symbol of the Anemoi albums’ themes of change, cycles, etc. AND IT’S HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT!

How COOL is that??? I just noticed!!

This is even crazier when you add on the fact that the final song you listen to, after going through all the albums, is Rounds.

And what is the ring doing? MAKING ROUNDS!! Going around and around as you keep replaying the albums, repeating the cycle of summer to fall to winter to spring to summer over and over again just as The Oh Hellos intended to convey :)

[soapcan18]

Thought I’d share these for anyone who hasn’t seen them :) They’re the official descriptions for each of the Anemoi albums on The Oh Hellos’ website!

Notos

Notos, the first installment in an ongoing series, is named for the ancient Greco-Roman god of the south wind, who brought storms in the summer. Musically, the record draws from the siblings' memories of summers spent exploring the Pacific Northwest with their grandparents, as well as their experiences with the frequent threat of hurricanes as they grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast. Thematically, the series considers the question: "where did our ideas come from?" Notos recounts a time when the duo weren't even aware there was a question to ask, and reflects on the backfire effect we experience when confronted with new information for the first time.

Eurus

Once that first question posed in the Notos EP is asked — "where did my ideas come from?" — it opens the floodgates to more. While wrestling with them all can ultimately lead to a fuller understanding of the world around you (and leave you with more empathy than you started with), it can also leave you feeling alienated from the communities you used to identify with. Eurus, released in early 2018 as the second installment in a series, is a continued interrogation of our own beliefs, and as Eurus was the wind most closely associated with autumn, the record seeks to capture the feelings of dark woods, dry branches, dead leaves, and wondering who had migrated — you, or your flock?

Boreas

Boreas, the northern wind, ushered in the harsh frosts of lonely winter. The arrangements of this third installment evoke images of snow-blanketed darkness, candlelight behind cupped hands, and a vast night sky ribboned with stars and auroras. As we wrote these songs, we found ourselves confronted with the ways we’ve personally and communally reflected the character of this wind — how we often avoid discomfort, even at the expense of others, until we are left cold, hard, and unfeeling. In this record, we ask the winter to instead kindle us into something warmer and softer than who we’ve been.

Zephyrus

The series concludes. Zephyrus, the final cardinal wind of this project, brought the gentle warmth of spring that summoned up a new year of growth rooted in the fertile ashes of all the structures that keep us isolated and unfeeling — the kind of growth we can see in ourselves, if we can muster the courage to be vulnerable. The arrangements mirror and embrace this shift, rising up like tender leaves breaking through concrete and cascading down like mountain rivers surging with the first thaw of the season. It’s been a long year; thanks for listening.

[soapcan18]

It’s so funny bc I was utterly blown away by Rio Grande after listening to only Dear Wormwood for a month, and then when I finally got to around to listening to the full anemoi albums I was like holy crap Rio Grande isn’t even close to as great as some of these songs like they're just THAT good. If u can beat my expectations after already blowing me away with Dear Wormwood, then beat my expectations AGAIN?? The Oh Hellos have my utmost respect they're amazing musicians. Also this is NOT bashing on Dear Wormwood, when I say I like one of The Oh Hellos’ songs better than another one of their songs it means that song is peak and the other song somehow manages to be even more peak I love them all <3