| Over the Rhine | Everybody Has A Story... | Press Archive index
. . . Tonic, Portland OR by Ted Thieman OVER THE RHINE Over the Rhine is a pop group that does not write pop songs. The members do have a knack for hooks and sweet phrasing. Yet between Karin Bergquist's detached, breathy delivery and bassist/keyboardist Linford Detweiler's stream of consciousness lyrics, Over the Rhine's songs are not fashioned out of traditional pop finery. The instrumentation is at once stark and lush, while Bergquist's voice wafts overhead, dipping and adding punch when necessary. Named for an old German neighborhood in their Cincinnati hometown, Over the Rhine evokes images of autumn with Mason jars, clouds and falling leaves. Like autumn, the words are sometimes ablaze with color, filling up every sense ("Daddy Untwisted"), while other times they're bare and cold ("Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander"). |