Columbus’ Own: The Original Soundtrack won’t be defined by labels

Claire Kudika
Thu, 08 Mar 2018 06:26:56 +0000
Arts & Life, Music, alternative, columbus' own, featured, funk, local music, No Labels, R&B, rock, rumba cafe, The original soundtrack

The Original Soundtrack will be playing at Rumba Cafe at 9 p.m. on March 17. Credit: Tiera D. Photos

Since its inception, The Original Soundtrack has evolved from a duo into a four-piece band, but at its core, it remains the same: a group of people who love making music for the sake of music.

The band first formed when frontwoman Lindsy Yi-Kennedy and a friend who has since moved on started playing together. Yi-Kennedy came up with the band name so they wouldn’t have to keep putting only their first names on open mic sign-ups.

“We kinda shopped around for a bassist,” Yi-Kennedy said. “That’s how [Chris Burris] and I linked up, through the original formation of The Original Soundtrack.”

Burris has been the bassist for The Original Soundtrack since he saw Yi-Kennedy performing at Ace of Cups three years ago. He was immediately intrigued by the group’s music and was excited at the prospect of joining a band that actually had a name. ??

“I saw [Yi-Kennedy] … and I was like ‘they’ve got a pretty cool sound,’” Burris said. “It was kind of inspiring to see a female lead.”

Burris joined the band, and for a short period tried his hand at singing vocals with Yi-Kennedy. That quickly ended, and she has been the sole vocalist since then.

It’s hard to define their band’s style. They don’t label themselves, because they believe a label wouldn’t be able to get them exactly right. It’s safe to say the band’s sound is combination of a variety of genres, including alternative, funk, R&B and rock.

“I call it ‘mood music,’” Burris said. “Whatever mood I’m in to write something or play something, that’s what comes out of us…whatever pleases our appetite. We just want to write the original soundtrack to our lives.”

For Yi-Kennedy, playing in The Original Soundtrack has changed every member’s relationship with music for the better.

“I’ve never played music out live; before this band I was kind of the bedroom musician,” she said. “Learning to be on stage is different. You get to connect with a lot of different people you otherwise wouldn’t connect with.”

Michael Lantow, the band’s guitarist, has been with the group for only about a year. Since then, the band has entered the studio to start recording its first album.

“I just have an ear for how things are spaced and how things are organized,” Lantow said. “Recording for me is a time when we can look at this huge thing that we don’t even know exists yet and we can just plug things in.”

Being in the studio has proved to be a bigger challenge than any of the musicians really thought. ?

“I think we move so fast today that we just expect the turnaround to be instantaneous,” Burris said. “To actually take time and invest in something has taken a lot longer than we anticipated.”

The band plans on releasing the album before the end of the year and a new single sometime in the next week.

The Original Soundtrack will be playing at Rumba Cafe at 9 p.m. on March 17. Tickets are $5 at the door.