Ohtis

Joy of Life International present Virgos are Honest, a 20-track collection of recordings that shine a light on the incredible songwriting and musicianship present in this alt-country outfit. Featured singles: Virgos are Honest, Without Blemish, Blankets on the Blinds An eagerly anticipated follow-up of sorts to Ohtis' incredible 2019 album Curve of the Earth (Full Time Hobby), Virgos are Honest is a mixtape of songs reflecting the past 20 years of this incredible project. Clocking in at just over 70 minutes in length and including a handful of early years demos, covers, previously released Joy of Life singles and some more recent works, this is a total treasure trove of alt-folk that is not to be slept on. Where Curve of the Earth pulled a single, hard-won narrative out of a decade of songwriting, Virgos are Honest takes the opposite approach: it opens the drawer and lets the whole span spill out. Home recordings sit next to studio takes, four covers rub shoulders with sixteen originals, and the sequencing traces a project that has always worked in fragments and returns rather than tidy chapters. It is less a victory lap than a fuller picture of a songwriter who has been quietly writing some of the most affecting country music of the last two decades, whether anyone was listening or not. Ohtis has been the long-running project of Sam Swinson and Adam Pressley, friends since high school in Normal, Illinois. A mix of dark humour, moral tension and back-porch mysticism