One of the coolest things our small metropolitan area does is a festival called Alternating Currents. Modeled after SXSW, the festival showcases music, film, comedy, and art from local and national artists playing at locally owned venues throughout the downtown area. This year, I was thankful to catch an act that I missed the previous year. In sweltering Midwest heat, amplified by the ‘corn sweat’ humidity, the phenomenon where moisture from thousands of acres of corn fields increases humidity to an obscene level, I watched OTNES (‘rhymes with ‘hotness,” she says) play an incredible set of indie pop that sounded so cool, it made us (almost) forget the heat.
OTNES is the solo project of Emily Otnes, formerly Emily Blue, a stage name chosen for previous solo releases and her time as the lead singer of Tara Terra. OTNES‘s time as Emily Blue and in Tara Terra stemmed from her life in Chicago. After a few years of recording and playing shows, OTNES moved to Nashville, Tennessee and started recording as OTNES. Beyond being a singer and multi-instrumentalist (the show I saw featured her playing guitars and synthesizers with additional musicians covering synth and drum duties), OTNES is also a director, a film buff who has a sharp eye for aesthetics that makes for great music videos. Given my own fondness for art-pop and film, it is hard not to love this project.
‘OTNES really came to be as I attempted to channel the truest version of myself. I had been through a lot of bands/projects before, and going by my family name feels most authentic to me,‘ she says of this reinvention. Her first full length, SHOW THEM WHAT’S INSIDE! is, thematically, very much about life’s changes and transitions. ‘The first OTNES album definitely came from a period of transition — moving out of state, navigating the grief of losing a friend, and processing the isolation during COVID days. Writing and producing SHOW THEM WHAT’S INSIDE! became part of a journey of healing and self-discovery,’ she continues alluding to the tragic passing of Max Perenchio, a longtime songwriting partner, producer, and friend. The closing track on her album is titled “TANGERINE, A SONG FOR MAX”, a heartfelt acoustic track in honor of Perenchio.
Sometimes, a change in location is exactly what one needs to flourish. ‘In Chicago I was a totally different person,‘ they say, ‘I chose myself when I moved to Nashville. And I took on a huge new chapter. It’s funny because I don’t even like Nashville as a city necessarily– I just love the people. They keep me grounded and surrounded with real community. I’m truly grateful!’ While their work as Emily Blue or as part of Tara Terra is great, as well, OTNES sounds like an artist becoming more of a visionary, transforming into themselves in a way that sounds unique and feels authentic. I can’t help but be reminded of St. Vincent‘s artistry when listening to OTNES, not necessarily in the music (though sometimes there is a similarity), but in its raw authenticity.
‘Music is 90% my diary, 10% total fantasy. It’s a space to write poetry, imagine new worlds, and explore my emotions. My work is definitely shaped by a lifelong love of the arts: years spent in dance, theater, school band/orchestra, as well as my family’s deep appreciation for classic cinema,’ OTNES says of her openness in her songwriting. Compared to the closing track, SHOW THEM WHAT’S INSIDE! opens with “BLU3,” an electronic-drenched experimentation that reminds me of Imogen Heap. Meanwhile, “SPIN” is jangly guitars and synth pads that takes me back to the first time I heard Remi Wolf‘s left-of-center love songs. Her influences are varied, but a sense of pop-music purity runs through. They are influenced by, ‘Regina Spektor for the exploratory nature of her vocal techniques/rawness of her writing, Fleetwood Mac for obvious reasons (iconic), and let’s seeeee. Dora Jar is my most recent obsession, and I also love Molina lately.’
OTNES‘s lyricism is vivid and direct, often invoking physical sensation alongside powerful emotions. ‘Redwood dust on your glasses/ain’t that the sweetest/I caught some feelings/from the all of the splinters on/your fingers, love when they linger,’ she sings on “REDWOOD DUST”, connecting themes of nature, romance, and labor into one verse. Caring this much about lyrics and songwriting is rare for the biggest artists in Nashville. Recently, a PR agent reached out to me while covering a festival for another publication, asking if I wanted to interview a rising country star. The press release boasted that the artist had written ‘a staggering‘ 12 of the 16 songs on their new album all by themselves! While I commend that artist for actually writing anything in the pop country world, I much prefer music that exists outside of the major label music industry. Writing your own songs is standard practice for virtually every artist I listen to and appreciate, and OTNES takes pride in their excellent songwriting:
‘A lot of my lyrical approach stems from my background in poetry — it was the only major I could truly commit to in college. Honestly, if I hadn’t studied that, I probably would have just been out on the road playing dive bars, at the time. My process is letting the song flow freestyle (guitar, piano, the DAW, or just singing in the shower) and then shape it afterward. I rarely begin with a set concept. I’ve always believed that different art forms are vessels we can use to uncover and process the things we need to work through within ourselves.’
I have a deep admiration for this process, and the music is wonderful, as a result. It stays unpredictable and focused on expression in every way. There are no sacrifices of integrity or artistic vision in OTNES‘s music. ‘I think very visually, and it helps for me to envision a scene when I’m writing,’ she elaborates on the crossover of directing and songwriting, ‘I pull from the scene (whether real or imaginary) in some of the lyrical details, and I try and reincorporate those ideas into visuals later on. I usually let the idea for the video come to me as the song develops in recording– but I would consider the two worlds (visual/ musical) to be very necessary partners.’ She cites David Lynch, Wes Anderson, Alfred Hitchcock, the original Star Trek series, 2000’s Cartoon Network, and more as her inspirations for directing.
OTNES has an excellent Audiotree session as well as SHOW THEM WHAT’S INSIDE!, but more music is on the way. They announced an upcoming album at the performance I saw, ‘New album soon via Antifragile Music. Title is a secret :),’ they replied when I asked, adding, ‘I think it sounds more 90s rock driven than the other one? But to be honest, I’m always all over the place. That’s kind of how I prefer it. I’m not sure I understand what ‘cohesion’ is for myself personally, but I find that I’m the thread that connects everything together. That, and I play a lot of different guitars on this record– a Dan Electro sitar, a high strung, an acoustic, a 6-string, a tiny bass– the list goes on.’
I will be eagerly awaiting new music from OTNES, and highly recommend catching a live show, if you can. OTNES has toured the USA and Europe opening for Donny Benét, bringing along Strangehandle, a guitarist, stage tech, and set designer from Nashville to play in their band and contribute to the show’s aesthetics. For as much of a solo project as OTNES is, they can’t do everything alone. Music is great for collaboration as much as it is a solo exercise; ‘shout out to Jared from Polychrome who’s been linking arms with me for the next album– so grateful for the work and love he’s put into these songs, and can’t wait to show the world!‘ she adds. We can’t wait to hear it!
Check out OTNES on Instagram, Facebook, Bandcamp, or their website!
