Tuesday night saw Nashville Meets London kick off their second year of the Pizza Express Live series. The series not only helps us country fans hold over until the next Nashville Meets London festival in July, but it also brings together up and coming, British country artists with an intimate, acoustic set with Nashville’s finest. The opening night’s first act were 60s nostalgic duo O&O; composed of Colorado’s Obadiah Jones and Israeli vocalist Orian Peled.
While the two don’t stem from Britain, the pair have now settled in London following their studies at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, where not only the duo formed but also where they were given the opportunity to write with Liverpool’s finest, Paul McCartney. After years of performing on cruise ships, the couple decided to independently release their own music. Their latest release being their first EP entitled ‘Truth Comes Out’.
Their first song of the evening was ‘Travelling’, which was released back in 2017. Not only did the song introduce the second series of the Pizza Express Live Series, but it also introduced their own story to how they came to this moment. ‘We’re travelling, always travelling’ neatly sums up the journey that the couple have made from their studies in Liverpool to touring, all the while navigating their own journey in their relationship.
One major factor that makes this couple so strong is their equal love for the sixties, an influence that you can recognise even in just the duo’s name O&O; a clear nod to their favourite 60’s duos; Sonny & Cher, Hall & Oates, and Simon & Garfunkel. It’s a influence which carries over to their sound; with their second song; ‘Rolling On’ ringing shy of a The Everly Brothers sound. The ultimate 60s tribute came from their third song of the evening; ‘Born in the Sixties’, which carried the vibes of Peter, Paul, and Mary (but minus the Paul). Though the song is yet to be officially released, this guitar jumping track really got the attention of the audience – whose job it was to guess how many 60’s references the duo had hidden in the song (35 in total).
‘Tears In The Rain’ is the latest single released from the EP and captured the duo’s forlorn side. A song that the duo described as the denial after a dissolved relationship, was layered with crestfallen, light harmonies, and gentle, airy guitar. ‘I know it won’t help, like tears in the rain, but I miss you the same’ expresses not only the denial that some breakups face, but also the leaden cloud that you can feel is over you after.
After the song came to an end, the band took the chance to explain how they had also written another track that tells the other side of the coin – the side of the ‘dumper’ as Orian put it. Not only did this allow the duo to perform another great, toe tapping tune, but it was also reflective of how two people can be in the same relationship, but walk away with different stories. Unlike ‘Tears In The Rain’, ‘Saturday Morning’ was upbeat and while the duo’s most dancy song, is definitely the most positive break up song I’ve ever heard.
Many of O&O’s songs tackle problems that couples from different countries can face. While introducing the song the couple explained how not everyday is all sunshine and rainbows, sometimes it feels like ‘we’ve reached the bitter end some days’. It was refreshing to finally hear a song that lies between a summer love and a cold breakup, a song of the everyday, a song of the ‘some days’.
The duo closed their set with a cover of Bryan Adams and Melanie C’s ‘When You’re Gone’, a perfect example of two artists from different countries who can create great music together, and their EP’s title track ‘Truth Comes Out’, a more swampy sounding track, it rings of a Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours vibe, and has a guitar riff that won’t leave your head for days.
O&O are rumoured to be releasing some live dates soon, but in the meantime you can catch the next Nashville Meets London show on the 26th of March.
