Oliver Hazard [Exclusive Sea Glass]

Few people have heard of Waterville, Ohio. A rust-belt city of a few thousand comfortably settled against the Maumee River, it’s the kind of Americana often romanticized as a place of unvarnished love, bitter outcomes, and hometown grit. The entire place feels like a dream—a sense found in the music of Waterville’s ascendant indie-folk trio, Oliver Hazard.

The sound of their upcoming LP, produced by Jacquire King (Modest Mouse, Of Monsters and Men, Kings of Leon), blends delicate arrangements with sturdy melodies -- whether it’s the buoyant build of “Two x Four," the pensive foreboding of "Use Me Up," the sweet ring of "Saratoga," the smooth sophistication of "Summertime Whiskey" or the austere ambience of “Northern Lights.” The band clearly knows that less can be more, but its impact is the product of careful consideration.
Like its predecessors, this 10-track set is the work of three individual singers, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, who share an organic connection in the craft -- sensibilities that, when fused together, yield music that's harmonic, haunting and at once ambitious and surprising. The charm is that the songs never sound mannered or constructed; they simply are as natural as something played on a front porch or the side of a river, around a campfire after a strenuous canoe trip.