Ohbijou
Encyclopedia
Biography
Ohbijou began as the solo project of BrantfordBrantford, Ontario
Brantford is a city located on the Grand River in Southern Ontario, Canada. While geographically surrounded by the County of Brant, the city is politically independent...
singer-songwriter Casey Mecija (born 1981). (She also works as a production assistant at MuchMusic
MuchMusic
MuchMusic is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. MuchMusic is dedicated to music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...
.) Through the process of songwriting and composition, Casey discovered a need for the musical support of her sister Jennifer Mecija (born 1985), whom Casey invited to assist with her early performances. The Mecija sisters later moved to Toronto to attend Ryerson University
Ryerson University
Ryerson University is a public research university located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its urban campus is adjacent to Yonge-Dundas Square located at the busiest intersection in Downtown Toronto. The majority of its buildings are in the blocks northeast of the square in Toronto's Garden...
and the Ontario College of Art and Design, respectively - Mecija soon saw what kinds of music existed in Toronto, and began to seriously consider playing her own music for a real audience.
In Toronto, the band expanded to include Heather Kirby (bass, banjo), James Bunton (drums, trumpet), Anissa Hart (cello), Ryan Carley (piano, synth, glockenspiel, electric piano, harpsichord), and Andrew Kinoshita (mandolin). In the context of Ohbijou, Casey remains as lead vocalist, though also plays guitar, piano and ukulele. Jennifer continues to add vocal layering, moreover, her instrumental contributions to Ohbijou include violin, harmochord, glockenspiel, organ and melodica.
The music of Ohbijou, which draws on pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
influences, has been classified in the indie pop
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
genre. Casey has cited the music of Canadian songwriter Julie Doiron
Julie Doiron
Julie Doiron is an award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter of Acadian heritage.-Background:Doiron started playing guitar in Eric's Trip at the age of eighteen, having joined the band at the insistence of her then-boyfriend, Rick White, also of Eric's Trip...
as an inspiration. The music has been described as being similar to Bic Runga
Bic Runga
Briolette Kah Bic Runga MNZM is a New Zealand pop recording artist whose first solo album, Drive, debuted at number one on the New Zealand RIANZ charts. She has since become one of the highest-selling New Zealand artists in recent history...
and Mazzy Star
Mazzy Star
Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Monica, California, in 1989 from the group Opal, a collaboration of guitarist David Roback and bassist Kendra Smith...
, and called "hushed, heart-tugging music".
Since the release of their debut album Swift Feet for Troubling Times in 2006, Ohbijou have played festivals across Canada, including the Osheaga Festival
Osheaga Festival
The Osheaga Music and Arts Festival is a multi-day rock festival in Montreal, Quebec, that is held annually at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Sainte-Hélène every summer. The 2006 festival attracted a crowd of around 25,000 people. The second edition was held on September 8 and 9, 2007...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and the Hillside Festival in Guelph
Guelph
Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city...
. They played the opening set for the Virgin Festival
Virgin Festival
The Virgin Fest is a rock festival held in the United States and Canada, a spin-off from the V Festival held in the UK...
in Toronto, and were nominated for the 2007 Galaxie Rising Stars Award of the CBC, competing with artists such as IllScarlett
IllScarlett
IllScarlett is a Canadian rock and reggae band.Their sound can be defined as pop infused rock reggae. They have made a name for themselves in the Canadian music scene and are making their name known throughout the United States and around the world...
, Final Fantasy
Owen Pallett
Michael James Owen Pallett is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist from Toronto, Ontario. He won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album He Poos Clouds....
and Emily Haines
Emily Haines
Emily Haines is a Canadian indie rock singer-songwriter. She is the lead singer and keyboardist of the band Metric and a member of Broken Social Scene. As a solo artist, she performed with her own name and under the alias Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton...
of Metric
Metric (band)
Metric is a Canadian indie rock and New Wave band founded in 1998 in Toronto. The band has also at various times been based in Montreal, London, New York City and Los Angeles...
. The band were among the organizers of a 2007 compilation CD, Friends in Bellwoods
Friends in Bellwoods
Friends in Bellwoods is a compilation album, released in 2007. It was the first release on Out of This Spark, through a distribution deal with Sonic Unyon Records. The album is named for a house on Bellwoods Avenue in Toronto, shared by two members of the band Ohbijou, which NOW has written "might...
- based out of Mecija's own Bellwoods Ave. Toronto home and practice space for Ohbijou and their friends - as a benefit for Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank. In 2008 they were chosen as one of three bands for the Banff Centre
Banff Centre
The Banff Centre, formerly known as The Banff Centre for Continuing Education, is an arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference complex located in Banff, Alberta...
's first Indie Band Residency, where they had the opportunity to spend two weeks working with some top producers and recording engineers.
Their music has been playlisted on CBC Radio 3
CBC Radio 3
CBC Radio 3 is a radio station that consists of two parts devoted to Canadian arts and music: a radio service which is available on Sirius Satellite Radio and streaming audio, and several daily and weekly podcasts from the CBC Radio 3 website...
. Their song "St. Francis" peaked at #4 on the network's weekly charts in December 2006, and ranked as the #34 song on the network's year-end singles chart. More recently, Ohbijou was included in the April 5, 2008 broadcast of CBC Radio
CBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
's The Vinyl Cafe
The Vinyl Cafe
The Vinyl Cafe is an hour-long radio variety show hosted by Stuart McLean and broadcast on CBC radio, BBC Radio 7 and on several U.S. public radio stations. It airs on Sunday at noon on Radio One and Saturday at 9 a.m...
and chosen as Aux.tv
Aux.tv
Aux is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel and corresponding website owned and operated by Glassbox Television...
's X3 Artist of the month for August 2009, in partnership with CBC Radio 3
CBC Radio 3
CBC Radio 3 is a radio station that consists of two parts devoted to Canadian arts and music: a radio service which is available on Sirius Satellite Radio and streaming audio, and several daily and weekly podcasts from the CBC Radio 3 website...
and Exclaim!
Exclaim!
Exclaim! is a monthly Canadian music magazine that features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with special focus on Canadian and cutting-edge artists...
. As well, Casey Mecija was named one of Chatelaine
Chatelaine (magazine)
Chatelaine is an English-language Canadian magazine of women's lifestyles. Both Chatelaine and its French-language version, Châtelaine, are published monthly by Rogers Media, Inc., a division of Rogers Communications, Inc...
s 80 Women to Watch for 2008.
Ohbijou is nationally distributed through Outside Music
Outside Music
Outside Music is a Canadian record label and distributor, founded by Lloyd Nishimura in 1995. In 2007, it expanded to include an artist management division which counts Jill Barber, Matthew Barber, One Hundred Dollars and Sunparlour Players as management clients.Outside has released countless...
. The band released their second album, Beacons
Beacons (album)
Beacons is a 2009 album by Toronto, Canada-based indie band Ohbijou. Three of the album tracks, including "Jailbird Blues". were recorded during the Banff Centre Indie Band Residency.-Track listing:# Intro To Season – 2:34# Wildfires – 3:50...
in 2009.
Casey Mecija recently covered The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
"Dear Prudence" for American Laundromat Records
American Laundromat Records
American Laundromat Records is an indie label based in Mystic, CT.The label has produced several tribute albums, including Dig For Fire - a tribute to PIXIES, Cinnamon Girl - Women Artists Cover Neil Young, and High School Reunion - A Tribute to Those Great 80's Films...
charity CD "Sing Me To Sleep - Indie Lullabies" which was released worldwide on May 18, 2010.
Members
- Casey Mecija – vocals, guitar, ukulele, piano
- Jennifer Mecija – violin, harmochord, Glockenspiel, melodica, vocals
- Heather Kirby – bass, banjo
- James Bunton – drums, trumpet
- Anissa Hart – cello
- Ryan Carley – piano, synth, Glockenspiel, electric piano, harpsichord
Albums
- Swift Feet for Troubling Times (2006)
- BeaconsBeacons (album)Beacons is a 2009 album by Toronto, Canada-based indie band Ohbijou. Three of the album tracks, including "Jailbird Blues". were recorded during the Banff Centre Indie Band Residency.-Track listing:# Intro To Season – 2:34# Wildfires – 3:50...
(2009) - Metal Meets (2011)
Contributions
- Friends in BellwoodsFriends in BellwoodsFriends in Bellwoods is a compilation album, released in 2007. It was the first release on Out of This Spark, through a distribution deal with Sonic Unyon Records. The album is named for a house on Bellwoods Avenue in Toronto, shared by two members of the band Ohbijou, which NOW has written "might...
(2007): "The Otherside (Remix)" - Friends in Bellwoods IIFriends in Bellwoods IIFriends in Bellwoods is a compilation album, released in 2009 by Out of This Spark as a benefit for Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank. The album is a sequel to the 2007 compilation Friends in Bellwoods....
(2009): "An Ode to an End" - Swim Drink Fish Music (2010): "Tour Song"
External links
- Ohbijou
- Ohbijou Article at Exclaim!Exclaim!Exclaim! is a monthly Canadian music magazine that features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with special focus on Canadian and cutting-edge artists...