On The Water are a ‘dark folk project’ led by songwriter Fletcher Van Vliet. The band released their latest album Cordelia back in May, an album which Van Vliet describes as:
“A dark love poem about self-discovery, realizing the things you love, close friends and adventure, limitations and failures, and bouts with depression”
Van Vliet is an interesting songwriter, not afraid to ply his trade across a diverse of genres. As well as the fragile folk songs as On The Water, he also writes doom metal with his band Ulthar and theatrical post-punk for the now defunct Da Comrade. You get the impression that Van Vliet is an artist confident in his abilities, drawing from the twin wells of creativity and experience.
Chicago artist Nnamdi Ogbonnaya has created a new video for their song ‘Born in Reverse, a strange stop-motion collage that sits perfectly with the lyrical themes of death, decay and, naturally, life (a similar theme to that of Young Jesus’ Grow / Decompose). The figure in the video, made up of a mish-mash of human and animal parts, is subject to confusion and terror and joy as life lives and dies in front of his eyes. The track itself a great introduction to On The Water, highlighting Van Vliet’s intimate, impassioned vocals and delicate arrangements which place the songs somewhere between the folk songs of Keaton Henson and Bonnie “Prince” Billy:
“Autumn leaves are falling to the ground. They decay but they are becoming something else. All will be and all will be born again. Finally all will be formless. All things must go. All things must go that way”
You can buy Cordelia now via the On The Water Bandcamp page. Nnamdi Ogbonnaya also has a Bandcamp page, where you will find his wonderfully strange multi-instrumental compositions.
P.S. On The Water are currently touring the US. You can find all the dates and details here.