Brother and sister Tyler and Maggie Heath said they began writing music together almost five years ago when they had no money to spend on a birthday gift for their mother.
The goofy birthday song “Oh Hello, Will You Have a Drink With Me?” thus marked the birth of their career as electric folk duo The Oh Hello’s. With their next song, and hit single, “Hello My Old Heart,” the siblings would reach a much wider audience.
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Last week, they released their sophomore album Dear Wormwood, primarily inspired by the C.S. Lewis novel “The Screwtape Letters.” The Oh Hello’s will soon be visiting Madison’s Majestic Theatre with this new discography Oct. 24.
Over the years, The Oh Hello’s have proven they are much more than just another band. In songwriting, they write on a personal level, eloquently putting into words the struggles both they, and all humans, deal with.
“For us it was a personal, prodigal son story, but then on a larger scale, we came to recognize that that was everyone’s story,” Maggie Heath said. “It’s the story of humanity as a whole — this idea of leaving home, and coming back.”
The music The Oh Hello’s creates is not simply music to listen to, it is music to understand. And while the duo’s Christian faith serves as a cornerstone in their lives and music, they don’t want it to restrict them.
“[Religion] is part of who we are, so when we write personal music it’s definitely there, but we’re also trying to be considerate and not shove that in anyone’s face,” Tyler Heath said. “We want to be inclusive and approachable while still being honest and true to who we are.”
Dear Wormwood approaches darker issues of humanity and “explores further down than ever before.”
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The record’s inspiration is derived from the somber C.S. Lewis novel of the same name. The piece is written as a series of letters, in which Uncle Screwtape informs his nephew of how to guide a soul to hell.
Despite their success, The Oh Hello’s have chosen to stay an independent band. ElectroRecords now distributes their music, but Tyler Heath said strengthening any further relationships with record labels doesn’t interest them. The band still makes all decisions regarding their next album and tour.
In their first record, Through the Deep, Dark Valley, the sibling duo wrote, recorded, produced, mixed and mastered it all themselves. They developed Dear Wormwood similarly, with only a final mix and mastering done by a close friend. Tyler Health’s motto is appropriately, “Nothing is impossible until someone tells you it is.”
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The Oh Hellos’ dynamic self-produced music is influenced by bands such as the Fleet Foxes and the Middle East, to classical composers and C.S Lewis. The sibling duo has the ability to draw inspiration from all different forms of art, allowing listeners to experience a variety of ideas and emotions.
Tyler and Maggie Heath have created a sound that will leave listeners with a personal message that is relatable to life as a human being battling everyday struggles.
