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.
Knowing Animals
O+S Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The streets are not the same
Even little children scare me
Afraid to hear my own name
I took the downtown train
It was a short ride home that day
It's funny what people say
My mother's not the same
My father's not the same
Knowing animals treat me strangely
As if they've heard my name
I took the downtown train
It was a short ride home that day
It's funny what people say
He said nothing would change
In "Knowing Animals," Orenda Fink and Scalpelist (the duo known as O+S) explore feelings of displacement and unease in a world that is no longer familiar or safe. The song uses repeated imagery of change and difference, suggesting that the singer's surroundings have become hostile and unsettling. The opening lines, "This house is not the same / The streets are not the same," convey a sense of loss and disorientation. The singer is no longer in a familiar and comfortable place, and even simple things like children and animals seem to be fearful or hostile towards her.
The lyrics also suggest a longing for stability and familiarity, particularly in the lines "My mother's not the same / My father's not the same." The singer is no longer able to rely on her family for comfort and support, further heightening her sense of displacement. The image of taking the downtown train home connects this theme of displacement to larger societal changes and upheavals. The singer seems to be searching for something that no longer exists, whether it be a sense of safety or a feeling of belonging in her own community.
Line by Line Meaning
This house is not the same
I feel like something has changed in my life and even my home doesn't feel familiar anymore.
The streets are not the same
Maybe it's just me but even the streets I've walked on every day for years seem different somehow.
Even little children scare me
I'm so uneasy these days that even the innocent play of little kids gives me anxiety.
Afraid to hear my own name
I'm so uncomfortable in my own skin these days that even hearing my own name fills me with dread.
I took the downtown train
I tried to escape my worries by taking a train but it doesn't seem to have helped much.
It was a short ride home that day
The small distractions like a train ride might offer temporary relief, but my problems remain.
It's funny what people say
People say that things will get better on their own or that I should get over things, but it's not that simple.
He said nothing would change
Even the people close to me think that things will be okay without acknowledging my struggles and emotions.
My mother's not the same
Even my relationship with family members that I thought were stable has changed and feels different now.
My father's not the same
I used to rely on my parents for support but even they seem to have become distant and are not the same people they once were.
Knowing animals treat me strangely
Even the way animals act around me is off, making me feel even more disconnected from the world around me.
As if they've heard my name
I'm not sure what's caused this shift in attitudes towards me, but it's like everyone and everything knows something I don't.
Contributed by Adrian E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.