The Ocelots

The Ocelots are twin brothers Ashley & Brandon Watson from Wexford, Ireland, now residing in Leipzig, Germany. Formerly a school band, The Ocelots learned their craft by playing blues standards and indie-rock songs during lunchtime. They finished school and began backpacking and street-performing around Europe. After releasing their first EP ‘Till We Get There’, which hit more than 1.7 million streams, they spent the following years backpacking which became extensive touring, playing shows and festivals around Europe and Australia.

Their debut album ‘Started to Wonder’ was released In March 2020, an audible Introduction to their coming-of-age from touring delirium and over-exposure to paperback fiction. In July 2023, The Ocelots released an EP ‘Addlepated’, leaning into their more whimsical, dream-like influences like Midlake or Sufjan Stevens. During this time, they also supported artists such as Jack Johnson, Glen Hansard and Ocie Elliott, amongst many others.

In November 2023, after a successful Kickstarter campaign, The Ocelots returned to Ireland to record ‘Everything, When Said Slowly’. The album was recorded live in Orphan Recordings, Wexford by Gavin Glass (Lisa Hannigan/BellX1/David Keenan/ John Grant/Villagers). It was produced and mixed by long time collaborators and sometimes band members, Cillian & Lorcan Byrne (Basciville) and mastered by Julia Borelli.

Blood harmonies are the centre of The Ocelots’ sound – imperfections of a voice breaking or a tempo shifting. ‘Everything, When Said Slowly’ was recorded live in Orphan Recording Studios, the band’s performances help form a driven, energetic scrapbook, coloured by flutes, synths, harmonica and harmonium. The twin brothers blend absurdity and sincerity in an array of literature-inspired musings. Open tunings and clawhammer banjo bring country-folk contemplation, but the imagery is very much urban, living outside of the romanticised glaze of wood cabins and cottage-core nostalgia.