With their new album coming out next month, West Virginia Indie rock band, Ona has been on the road in support of the album titled, Full Moon, Heavy Light.Sunday night, Ona played Madison Live in Covington for the first time but to familiar faces.
Ona’s no stranger to the Cincinnati music scene, even going as far to say that they look at Cincy as a second home. Each show they have done here continues to grow in size along with a dedicated fan base.
The set kicked off with their new single ‘Summer Candy,’ and was followed by ‘Golden Highway Deserter,’ two songs that showcase the bands development in their sound. Lead guitarist Zach Owens’ slide guitar playing is truly a unique facet of the bands and creates the sonic vibe that very few guitar players are able to do.
For fans who have been following the band the past few years, Ona has revamped several of their songs like ‘Ide’s of July,’ which they played last night as well. A song that used to move at a much slower pace and build, now has more life to it. That development in sound may be because of their work with producer Drew Vandenberg, who they say is like the sixth member of the band.
The song that really stands out to me at any Ona show is ‘True Emotion,’ it’s really a highlight of lead singer Bradley Jenkins’ songwriting ability and feels like it could be the strongest song off the upcoming record.
As they’ve grown Ona has so much potential because of their pop-sensibility in their hooks, while maintaining a truly unique sound. There is an approachableness about their songs that anyone can appreciate and an unpretentiousness that often indie rock gets bogged down in.
“Ona is a band” has sort of become their tag line, as well as a very effective marketing approach. It’s on their shirts, it’s on their social media and its kind of the way they carry themselves. They have a sort of mentality that “we’re a band and we play music,” an egoless mantra and I don’t think these guys were meant to do anything other than that. Ona is simply a band and they’re great at making music.
Ona will be on tour all summer and will be having an album release show at the Burl in Lexington, Kentucky on May 10th.
