Singing in the Rain!

Perhaps one of the best parts about getting to spend a few moments with the Toronto indie septet Ohbijou at Hamilton’s recent first annual James St. N. Supercrawl was that it was under a roof. “It’s raining you guys,” was all vocalist/guitarist Casey Mecija, barraged by a sea of umbrellas from the crowd, and with the most charming and innocent disposition possible, could muster between songs during her band’s set. “Oh my goodness, I’m sorry I can’t stop talking about the rain,” she laughed a few moments later, “but it’s so awesome you guys are sticking it out for this great event.”

Melancholic weather notwithstanding, it’s no surprise that Ohbijou was there to stick it out too. Born out of Toronto’s ballooning indie, community-driven music scene, they fit the bill perfectly for the Supercrawl, an art and music celebration which had part of James. St. N. closed.

Ohbijou of course is used to being labelled as the “epicentre”—to use NOW magazine’s term—of an emerging DYI-style scene. In 2007 the band orchestrated the Friends in Bellwoods compilation album, named after the bandmates’ former Bellwoods Ave. home in Toronto, where many of the songs were actually recorded. The band is naturally humble about all of the praise. “The thing is, ‘community’ is such a loaded term,” Mecija explained. “The house served as a hub for us and all of are friends, a place for us to play music and get together. We’ve met a lot of awesome people and it was mostly just our friends coming over to our house to jam and play music.”

In August, Friends in Bellwoods II was released, further solidifying Ohbijou as a rising force in Toronto’s indie community. “(The album) is definitely an extension of the first one,” said Mecija. “It all originated from the house and it was a great experience to just get together and make music with our friends. And all of the proceeds go to the Toronto Food Bank, which is a great cause.”

Beacons, the band’s second full-length album, was also released over the summer, and the album shows a much more nuanced maturity over the eclectic indie/pop mix found on their debut, 2006’s Swift Feet for Troubling Times. “The recording sessions for this album were different because we’ve learned a lot since the last one,” bassist Heather Kirby told me. “We took a couple of trips outside of the city and really separated ourselves from everyday life for a while.”

Kirby, along with Mecija, cellist Anissa Hart, and mandolinist Andrew Kinoshita, were all quick to credit the Indie Band Residency they experienced at the Banff Centre for the Arts—where they were one of three bands chosen by the Alberta-based Centre to spend two weeks developing as a band and work with top producers and engineers. “It made a huge difference and it was definitely a very involved process that impacted our last album,” says Kirby.

“We also didn’t need to worry about impressing anyone there or playing any shows or anything like that,” adds Kinoshita. “It was great to work with so many professionals and they had such an amazing setup there. It was a great experience.”

Ohbijou, who is rounded out by Mecija’s sister Jenny on violin, James Bunton on drums, and Ryan Carley on piano, certainly have been making a lot of headway over the past several months. In partnership with CBC Radio 3 and Exclaim! magazine, Aux.tv chose them as the X3 artist of the month for August, and their new music video for the song “New Years” is now getting regular airplay on MuchMusic. Hart credited the Exploding Motor Car company for producing the aesthetically innovative music video: “I’m more excited for the people that made that video, because they worked so hard on it, and I’m just really glad how it came out and how people are having the opportunity to see it.”

The band acknowledges the difficulties that come along with more mainstream attention but is excited about the opportunities. “The more people that are listening to our music and appreciating it is a great thing,” says Kirby. “I think anytime you have more people listening to music and appreciating music is a good thing.”

“Can you guys see yourselves becoming the next Tegan and Sara, or the next Feist, or the next Lights, and if so, is that intimidating at all?” At this question the band seemed to reveal some vulnerability, but Mecija’s humble, easy-going answer prevailed and showed why Ohbijou is making such a dent in the indie scene. “We have a lot of things we need to do. For one, we need to work on making a really good next album. All of the musicians you just named are very successful artists, so it would be amazing to be at their calibre. I just look forward to whatever comes next for us.”