The Ophelias – “Black Ribbon” [Video]

The Ophelias – composed of Spencer Peppet (guitar & vocals, she/her), Mic Adams (drums, he/him), Andrea Gutmann Fuentes (violin, she/her), and Jo Shaffer (bass, they/she) – announce their new EP, Ribbon, out April 12th. In conjunction, they present a new single/video, “Black Ribbon.” The Ophelias started amongst Peppet, Adams, and Fuentes in high school, with Shaffer joining in 2019. Although they began as an “all girl band,” they now identify as joyfully queer and trans. Ribbon finds the band fully in the adult world for the first time. Its songs explore spaces between right and wrong, good and bad, friend and enemy. Experiences that can’t be compartmentalized: the glowing in-betweens.

Today’s “Black Ribbon” is the most synth-heavy and shoegaze-y track, and explores the newness of a queer relationship. Over swelling, emotive instrumentation, Peppet captures the rush of unpredictable romantic feelings: “Some kind of desire // That I cannot categorize // You are a Springsteen song // Dark sky in overdrive into the warm night.” The accompanying video, directed by Shaffer and Peppet, is stunning, featuring the band and fuzzed-out, Midwestern imagery that visualizes the track’s mood.

The Ophelias are now spread across the States, reconvening in New York or Cincinnati to record and prepare for touring. They released their first album Creature Native in 2015, followed by 2018’s Almost and 2021’s Crocus. Throughout Ribbon, The Ophelias’ sound moves between genres, finding the niche between indie rock, folk, and pop. Fuentes’ violin sweeps cinematically through the EP, and Peppet’s emotive vocals work in tandem as she sighs, belts, and gasps from one song to the next. Adams and Shaffer stay locked in as the rhythm section, with both purposeful drive and intentionally placed embellishments. The band members have a cerebral awareness of one another that only comes with years of collaboration. As FLOOD lauds, “What distinguishes The Ophelias in a field of indie auteurs is the dynamism of the quartet, whose other members… know exactly how much space to take up at any given moment.”

THE OPHELIAS LINKS
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