City Beat, Cincinnati OH
March 1996

by Mike Breen

NEW FACE ON OTR BASS

Fans of Over the Rhine will notice a new face at the group's show Saturday at Bogarts. Holding down the bottom end on bass will be a new member, Chris Dahlgren-- not an unknown for those familiar with Ekimi, the Cincinnati New Age-ish Jazz group Dahlgren and keyboardist Billy Larkin headed for several years.

Dahlgren, who has since relocated to New York City, says his addition to OtR-- which starts work on a new release for IRS Records in the next few months-- was a natural progression for the group, as former bassist Linford Detweiler moves on to keyboards and guitar.

"I've known Linford and Karin (Bergquist, the group's singer) since the beginning, when they were really just starting to put Over the Rhine together," says Dahlgren, from his home in Brooklyn. Their friendship revolved around music, with the two parties exchanging tapes of their work, offering criticism and generally developing a "mutual respect."

Dahlgren explains that Detweiler's shift to other instruments was the main reason for his official enlistment, but, he adds, there was also a desire from the band to shake things up a bit. "It's not changing the direction of the band," Dahlgren reassures, "but it's modifying it a little. I think the band was feeling like it could use a slight turn of something."

Joining Over the Rhine steps up Dahlgren's already-busy career. After moving to New York, Dahlgren formed the rootsy Jazz ensemble Slow Commotion, which journeyed to Cincinnati last weekend for a show at the Hyatt Regency amidst a mini-tour that took the group as far as Chicago.

Dahlgren says the Hyatt show was disappointing in that it was "sparsely attended," but the hometown audience allowed him to gauge reaction to his music. "Some of the people who were there loved it and were riveted," he says.