Bio and Press
The short story:
Ophelia Syndrome is an experimental five piece hailing from Hamilton, ON. The band layers cello, lap steel, vintage keyboards, and male and female vocal harmonies over a foundation of guitar, bass and drums. The result is Ophelia Syndrome’s own unique brand of rock, folk, and jazz. Building on the success of their 2009 ‘Shades of Grey’ EP, Ophelia Syndrome successfully fan-funded their debut full length album ‘all things forgotten’, gaining international acclaim and support through sellaband.com. Recorded and co-produced by Michael Chambers at Catherine North, ‘all things forgotten’ was released in Europe in the autumn of 2011 to fans in Brazil, the UK, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and most notably, the Netherlands. Ophelia Syndrome is bringing the show on the road; the band’s fall 2011 ‘all things forgotten’ tour of Southern Ontario will be followed by their first venture into Europe in the summer of 2012.
The whole story so far:
Ophelia Syndrome is a unique blend of rock, folk, and jazz with a pop sensibility. Hailing from Hamilton, Cambridge, and Toronto ON, OS formed in the winter of 2002, when Trina Nadeau (cello) and Deanna Wells (vocals, and keyboards) met during their studies in the Mohawk College Music Performance program. In 2007 Adrian McFarlane, and Josh Kohler filled out the lineup on drums, bass, and backing vocals.
In 2008, the band entered Catherine North Studios to record their “Shades of Grey” EP with the late Dan Achen and Michael Chambers. In the vein of the singer-songwriter, “Shades of Grey” showcased the bands rare instrumentation, powerful vocals, and seemless ability to traverse and blend genres into their own sound. The EP was released May 2009 and spent 4 weeks on C101 Top 30. OS embarked on several small tours of Southern Ontario in support of the EP, visiting Ottawa, Kingston, Peterborough, Kitchener, Guelph, and Waterloo, as well as playing regular shows in Hamilton, Oakville, and Toronto. OS also appeared at The Cambridge Arts Festival, and as a headliner at The Art of Sound Festival in 2010.
Due to the success of ‘Shades of Grey’, OS succesfully fan-funded their debut full length album “all things forgotten” through Sellband.com, raising approximately $16,000 in support of the album. The band is a regular top 5 artist on sellaband.com, allowing OS to gain fans globally in Brazil, The UK, France, Germany, Austrailia, New Zealand, and most notably the Netherlands.
With hundreds of new expetent fans, 2 years of refined new material, and the addition of Andrew Barbisan on guitar, lap steel, and backing vocals, OS approached ‘all things forgotten’ as a chance to reinvent their experimental sound to deliver a truly memorable album. Blending male and female vocal harmonies, vintage organ, Wurlitzer, and Rhodes keyboards, strings, lap steel, and even muted trumpted performed by Loretta Hale on Long Wait, “all things forgotten” has a haunting and timeless texture. Recorded and co-produced by Michael Chambers at Catherine North, the album was released in Europe in the autumn of 2011.
Click here to view our EPK.
PRESS:
- Congrats! Ophelia Syndrome reached their funding target! Posted onFebruary 06, 2012 12:43
This is their official statement from their homepage.
- Tuesday, December 20, 2011: T.O. Snob’s Music
All Things Forgotten is the debut full length album from Hamilton, ON quintet Ophelia Syndrome, a band who take their name from a popular a condition where you fall in love with a mad Danish prince and then drown ‘accidentally’.
The record, fully funded by fans, combines traditional rock and jazz foundations and layers cello, lap steel guitar, keyboards and more over top. Add in gorgeous vocals and you have a warm sound that is both dynamic and lush.
I wish I had heard it a little sooner. If I had it may very well have squeaked into my Best Canadian Albums of 2011 list.
- Ophelia Syndrome reaches their target on Sellaband.
Posted on November 19, 2010 19:06 
Just on time before the weekend – congratulations to Ophelia Syndrome for reaching the target! With 11.900€ they are the 59th band on SellaBand to reach the goal and we are very excited about what the results will be of teaming up with Michael Chambers of Catherine North Studios, where they also recorded their debut EP “Shades of Grey” in October of 2008. So we whish all the best for the upcoming periode and are looking forward to hold your album in our hands.https://www.sellaband.com/en/news/229-congratulations-ophelia-syndrome To view their successful project, click here
To view their successful project, click here.
- iTodd Lounge 20: Ophelia Syndrome
- OS and “Beautiful Doll” won Talentast Song of the week for the week ending on March 5th, 2011. Click here to view the charts.
- OS and “6 8 Song” won TalentCast song of the week for the week ending on Sept. 11th, 2010. Click here to view the charts.
- OS and “Stop” won the TalentCast song of the week again for the week ending on March 13th, 2010. Click here to view the charts.
- OS and “Beautiful Doll” won the TalentCast song of the week for the week ending on Dec. 26th, 2009. Click here to view the charts.
- Ophelia Syndrome’s Shades of Grey on C101 Top 30 from the week of August 17 to September 8th.
- For the complete chart listings, pleasevisit: Earshot-online, and the C101 page.
- Ophelia Syndrome’s Shades of Grey; Hamilton’s independent Voice magazine
Page 13: Hamilton Music Notes
By Ric Taylor
Vol. 15 No. 33 • August 13-19, 2009; http://www.viewmag.com/viewstory.php?storyid=7065
Ophelia Syndrome’s Shades of Grey
Growing up in a musical family, Deanna Wells has been surrounded by music her whole life. She began piano and then vocal lessons early on and since then made music her life, earning a diploma in musical performance from Mohawk College, and a Bachelor’s Degree in music from McMaster University. She’s long played open mic nights, starting in 1998, and the classical education has offered her an obvious background in theory and performance, but it was also a great place for networking. She would meet local musician and fellow student Kori Pop and they would decide to form a new record label, DeeKo Records. Then when she met some likeminded players, Wells would expand on her own music and form a band. Dubbed Ophelia Syndrome, Wells and company offer a novel approach to local music and offer the inaugural DeeKo release and their debut CD this weekend, Shades of Grey.“It was not until Trina, Adrian, and Josh joined the band in 2007 that we were ready to really do something,” offers Wells. “I may be the singer–songwriter but the arrangements are definitely a collaboration. I may bring a song in on piano, and where we take it by the end of the day is somewhere I would have never thought it would go. Working with a band is so gratifying because you are working with four other individuals to make a certain song come to life. I honestly have a hard time imagining the music without them.”Featuring Wells (vocals, piano, guitar), Danielle Francis (guitar), Josh Kohler (bass), Trina Nadeau (cello), and Adrian McFarlane (drums), Ophelia Syndrome offer a moody brand of classically fused pop that they dub coffee house rock. While songs morphed into something new in the band format, Wells was excited to capture the sound for a CD release.Recorded at Catherine North with Dan Achen and Michael Chambers,the songs Wells inevitably choose to record for Shades of Grey would reflect a common theme.The thread that runs through all these songs, one of
relationships, is summed up in ‘Shades of Grey’,” explains Wells. That song is about how when you’re young you think that there is an answer to everything. There is right, and there is wrong. When I got a little older, I saw that sometimes two people can be wrong at the same time, or right at the same time. Maybe we’re just living in the in–betweens. All of the songs chosen for Shades of Grey relate to this idea.”With a top notch CDEP recorded and ready for the masses, Ophelia Syndrome are ready to get the songs out to the people. With a CD release party happening this weekend, Wells hopes everyone takes note.II just hope our music gets to ears – I don’t care what those ears are attached to, as long as they’re human,” smiles Wells. “Honestly, it doesn’t matter to us what kind of music fan comes out, just as long as they’re there and they’re enjoying themselves. Recording and performing are very different beasts as we have learned! We think Shades of Grey is a good introduction to OS, but live we take liberties with the songs to make things interesting for us. Honestly, we get bored easily. The CDEP release party is meant to be a celebration. We are very proud of what we’ve accomplished in the last two years, and we want to share that with whoever wants to be there. Getting our music out for people is the number one goal. We have a product that we can stand behind. Now it’s all up to us to present that to as many people as we can.”
Ophelia Syndrome plays this Saturday August 15 at The Sky Dragon Centre with The Colour Tasters opening. Doors are at 8pm and cover is $10 with a CD. www.opheliasyndrome.com
