CINCINNATI, OH – The Ridges, an orchestral folk rock band from Athens, OH, will perform an official critic’s pick showcase at the MidPoint Music Festival on Thursday, September 22, at 9PM on The Cincinnati Club P&G Stage.
An orchestral folk rock group from Athens, Ohio, The Ridges blend indie rock melodies with moody folk sensibility and live improvisation. A three-piece acoustic act (Victor Rasgaitis, Johnny Barton and Talor Smith) with a regularly rotating cast of guest musicians, The Ridges feature cello, three part vocal harmony, guitar, drums, glockenspiel, viola, trumpet, piano, dulcimer, mandolin, upright bass, harmonica and and the occasional accordion.
In the winter of 2010, The Ridges took to the abandoned asylum that bears their same name to record a self-titled “studio” release among the ancient halls, deteriorating wards and eerie operating rooms. Praised as “brooding folk music [that] is both mature and fresh” (Delusions of Adequacy) with “plenty of lush, orchestral intros, outros and bridges, making it feel fuller than most artists’ 14-song long-players” (CityBeat, Cincinnati, OH) and creating “a chilling and intriguing journey into the realm of the unknown” (AltOhio.com) that is “darkly romantic and entrancing” and “complex and intriguing” (ACRN.com, Athens, OH) with “a unique sound, unmatched by many other folk bands” (The Lantern, Columbus, OH) highlighted by “diverse instrumentation, solid songwriting and great vocal arrangements” (The Athens News, Athens, OH), the 5-track short-play album coping with themes of haunted pasts, death, love and awakenings, and backgrounded by the unique natural acoustics and legends of the building, is the band’s first formal presentation of their richly layered sound.
