Metropolitan Spirit, Augusta, Georgia
October 20, 1994

By Elaine Hall

Cincinnati's Over the Rhine have come an impressive distance in a short time. Five years ago, they were playing hometown bars; by 1993, IRS Records had signed them on the heels of two independent releases, "'Til We Have Faces" and "Patience," and tour dates with Bob Dylan and Adrian Belew. "Eve" is their first complete project for IRS (the label previously re-released Patience); tour dates include The Post Office on October 29.

According to bassist/keyboardist Linford Detweiler, the sound he creates with vocalist Karin Bergquist, guitarist Ric Hordinski, and drummer Brian Kelley has evolved because of touring.

"We played a lot around the country, made it to Europe a couple of times. Initially, we would sometimes land in punk clubs or sports bars and what not, where you have to raise your hand pretty high to get people's attention. Our shows seemed to grow increasingly energetic. The new record is a step closer to the live performances in that it's not as musically introspective as some of the early recordings."

Defining Over the Rhine is a challenge; they blend elements of varied genres. "Maybe it's a liability, but it's hard for me to analyze what we're doing," Detweiler admits. "I write intuitively, not with an agenda. We instinctively put records together and hope the resuly is uniquely (us). Something that you have to hear to begin to understand. Something that defies easy summary. We're pretty isolated from the music industry at large and probably not very in touch with what we might do to be more hip. We just try to explore possibilities and discover little by little what interests us. Sometimes it feels like we don't fall into any categories. Maybe we'll create our own category."

Despite brief tenure, Detweiler has gained an education. In addition to travel and rapport and exchange with diverse individuals comes confidence and drive. "With enough persistence, any artist will have a chance to be heard or seen, sooner or later," he reasons. "Patience is of the essence. The question is, when you're finally given that platform, when you finally get the opportunity to say what you've been supposedly devoting your life to, will you still remember what you wanted to tell the world? It's easy to lose your way in the whole process of trying to gain recognition. You tend to get battered a bit by some fairly severe outside (and inside) forces along the way. Hopefully you retain enough original vision so it's still you that's actually talking if and when people actually start paying attention."