The Ocelots are twinbrothers Ashley and Brandon Watson from Wexford. Building on the folk-rockessence of their debut, the duo release of their highly anticipated secondalbum, Everything, When Said Slowly, 7th February 2025.This album unveils a richer, more expansive sound, masterfully produced bylong-time collaborators Cillian and Lorcan Byrne (Ailbhe Reddy, SusanO’Neill). The narrative woven throughout the album explores themes of Irishmigration, the perception of time, love, and the simple joys of cycling.
“The title Everything, When Said Slowly is aresponse from an old Irish man’s perspective on people leaving our hometown ofWexford over the years past. He said it was a very long time since they left,but not much time if you said it fast. I found it wonderful and profound, butalso deeply moving and fitting for the album’s sentiment. How time flies ordrags depending on what you’re experiencing, especially when it’s time in aplace you said goodbye to.”
Bloodharmonies are the centre of The Ocelots' sound - imperfections of a voicebreaking or a tempo shifting. Recorded live in Orphan Recording Studios, byGavin Glass (Lisa Hannigan, BellX1, David Keenan, John Grant, Villagers),the band’s performances help form a driven, energetic scrapbook, coloured byflutes, synths, harmonica and harmonium. The twin brothers blend absurdity andsincerity in an array of literature-inspired musings. Open tunings andclawhammer banjo bring country-folk contemplation, but the imagery is very muchurban, living outside of the romanticised glaze of wood cabins and cottage-corenostalgia.
“Apart from recording the majority of the album in anintense window of three days, we had a long overdubbing phase back in Leipzig.We were able to be more creative with the final touches. I worked in abookstore and inside we had this beautiful noisy harmonium. I had a lot of funwith that, and I was in love with the sound. Brandon worked day after day onlead guitar parts, harmonica parts and arrangements for cello lines or extraharmonies. It took way longer than it should have, but it was worth it”.
