After several years together, the Berlin-based band Mighty Oaks recently took a break. Now the folk musicians are back with a new album – a deliberately simple one.
The members of the Berlin-based band Mighty Oaks have taken a long break from each other. “It wasn’t really necessary because nothing had happened or anything. But in long-term relationships, things sometimes become entrenched – a little distance was good for us,” said singer Ian Hooper in an interview with the German Press Agency. The folk band is now back with their new album “High Times”.
In the meantime, he and his two bandmates Claudio Donzelli and Craig Saunders had time for things that were difficult to do alongside the hustle and bustle of the band, Hooper said. “During the time off, I made my own music, which I really wanted to try out. And the guys also just looked at what they could do when Mighty Oaks wasn’t in full swing.”
Saunders, for example, now runs “a lot.” The three men have taken a lot of time for their families. “That was also important after the corona pandemic.”
New album was future perspective
What also helped with the return was that “High Times” was already written and mostly recorded when Hooper told his bandmates that he wanted to make his own music, said the American-born singer. “High Times” was a perspective for the band. “I wanted to have that already. That way we knew that when we came back, it would sound like that. That made it easier.”
Deliberately kept simple
Their newly released music is deliberately simple, reduced and “a lot of what we do well” – “just the three of us,” Hooper described. “We can still make a big band album. But right now, it all feels right for us.”
From the beginning of the Mighty Oaks story, the band released music that was recorded together in the living room of one of the musicians. And Mighty Oaks has now returned to this homely environment. “But today it somehow feels like it’s from another time. Folk music from the past.”
Mighty Oaks will be touring with the new album starting in October. Concerts are planned in Munich, Erlangen, Bochum and Rostock, among others.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
