The group started as a friendship nearly two decades ago in Birmingham, Alabama. “Orenda and I have been friends for 16 years,” Lemoyne offers. “When Remy Zero was just starting and becoming successful in Birmingham, Orenda and her musical partner Maria were a 16-year-old songwriter duo that would just hang around. We quickly recognized a talent in them and knew they would do well.” Many years later, an artist-in-residence program in Omaha would provided them with unusual creative control, resulting in several recordings of experimental pop songs.
Fink had moved to Omaha because of her involvement in Azure Ray and their Omaha-based record company Saddle Creek Records. When the local Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts offered Fink a musical art residency, she accepted, and with no guidelines in place, Fink considered using her collection of field recordings (recorded in, among other places, Omaha, Haiti, and an Alabama church) as source material for loops and pop songs. Fink: “My idea was to go and collect field recordings from all over. Places that inspired me in a kind of atmospheric way”
Fink invited her old friend Lemoyne to participate in the art project and he soon took residence at the Center in Omaha, where their early meetings took place in the basement. Lemoyne explains: “We’d take samples of sounds of Haitian rituals, street noises or whatever, then cut them into loops. We’d arrange them into forms and write songs with them or, she might have started a song and I would take some of these sound materials to create bodies of music around it.”
As the project began to take shape, both recognized its commercial as well as artistic potential. “We didn’t know what would happen and that was afforded by the fact that it was an art residency – we had freedom,” Fink says. “Ultimately, it ended up working really well. We created a cohesive work.”
The result has been compared to the work of Angelo Badalamenti. “We listened to a lot of David Lynch soundtracks and 10cc,” confesses Fink. “I was looking for this balance of light and dark. You don’t know why it is dark because it is actually very light sounding. That is what I was going for,” she adds.
Their debut, produced by Michael Paterson (Beck, Notorious B.I.G., Ladytron) is characterized by drum loops, shifting from acoustic guitar and angelic vocals to plodding piano, tinkling bells and a mixture of unidentifiable voices.
Haunts
O+S Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's a big old house
And it breathes like I breathe
And it lives like I live
But I won
Yet I won the good fight against my own demons
But the fact still remains
There's a bridge that we all know
And with a cross overhead, you know nobody grows cold
And it breathes like I breathe
But I won the good fight when it reached out to me
But the fact still remains
There's something wrong with that place
You can run but you can't hide
"Haunts" by O+S is a song that talks about the feeling of being haunted. The singer is describing the house that they live in as being haunted, but it's not a supernatural presence that they're talking about. The house "breathes" like they do and "lives" like they do, suggesting that the haunting is something internal, something that is coming from within themselves. The singer has won "the good fight against [their] own demons," but there's still a feeling of unease in the house that they can't shake off. The haunting is a reminder that even when we triumph over our own internal struggles, they can still leave a lasting impact on our lives.
The reference to a bridge with a cross overhead suggests a connection to religion or spirituality. The bridge is a symbol of transition or crossing over to another side, and the cross overhead represents a religious or spiritual element. The singer has also faced some sort of struggle on the bridge, as evidenced by the line "But I won the good fight when it reached out to me." Despite the religious imagery, there's still a sense that something is not quite right. The line "you can run but you can't hide" adds to the sense of unease; no matter where the singer goes, they can't escape their own demons.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a haunt in my house
I feel a perpetual presence in my home that I can't seem to shake
It's a big old house
My home has been around for a while and has a lot of character
And it breathes like I breathe
I can feel the energy of my home and its surroundings in the same way I feel my own breath
And it lives like I live
My home seems to have a life of its own, much like the ups and downs of my own existence
But I won
I emerged the victor in a long-standing battle against my own inner turmoil
Yet I won the good fight against my own demons
Even though my home is still haunted, I have conquered my personal demons
But the fact still remains
Despite my personal victory, there is still something unsettling about my home
There's something wrong with this place
My home is filled with an eerie energy that feels wrong, even though I can't quite put my finger on it
There's a bridge that we all know
We are all familiar with the symbolism of this particular bridge
And with a cross overhead, you know nobody grows cold
This bridge has a religious significance that brings comfort and reassurance to those who cross it
And it breathes like I breathe
Even this bridge seems to have a life force of its own that I can feel
But I won the good fight when it reached out to me
When I needed comfort, the bridge was there for me and I was able to overcome my fears
You can run but you can't hide
No matter where you go, you can't escape the persistent feeling of being haunted
But the fact still remains
Despite our best efforts, the unsettling energy of certain places will always linger with us
There's something wrong with that place
Even a familiar and comforting location can feel slightly off, leaving us feeling uneasy and on edge
Contributed by Ella B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
alix nibbs
This song is so cool that i had to share it with the people i love the most.
Jackie Jimenez
this is a remarkable piece of work
Alexandra Matthews
A new favorite :)
sorcervs
first an i luv it