Columbus’ own: The Cordial Sins find their stride with new EP

Emily Real
Thu, 05 Oct 2017 03:54:43 +0000
Arts & Life, Music, columbus local music scene, columbus' own, Corey Dickerson, featured, jon fintel, Liz Fisher, local music, only human, relay recordings, The Cordial Sins, the cranberries, wolf alice

The Cordial Sins are set to release their second album on Oct. 21 with a party at Ace of Cups. Credit: Courtesy of Ori Segev

Columbus alternative-rock group, The Cordial Sins, is beginning to find its stride with its latest EP, “Only Human,” which is set to be released on Oct. 21.

The creative forces behind “Only Human” are front woman Liz Fisher and lead guitarist Corey Dickerson. Dickerson said the band’s small size played a huge part in solidifying the its sound for its new EP.

“Getting five or six people to agree on [a trajectory] is so freaking hard,” Dickerson said. “We know what we want to sound like, I think we know how we want to progress and it’s just easier to find people and be like, ‘Hey, we have these songs, do you want to help us write these bass parts and drum parts?’”

Fisher and Dickerson had mutual friends in high school in Delaware, Ohio, but didn’t officially meet until college. At Ohio State, Fisher and Dickerson started working together after Dickerson began a musical project that needed strings, and Liz was a classically trained violinist studying violin performance.

The duo’s new sound can be compared to groups like the Cranberries or Wolf Alice, with their new EP taking on simpler alternative-pop songs. ?Fisher and Dickerson said they took aspects of the band’s first EP that they liked, and translating that into a new set of songs.

However, finding balance was a big challenge for the duo.

“We really tried not to overcomplicate things,” Dickerson said. “It [was] still hard to write because, I think simplicity is the key to great pop songs no matter what the genre is, but you have to keep the listener engaged.”

The recording process was also a lot smoother the second time around, Fisher and Dickerson said. With their first album, they worked with a producer in Athens, Ohio, and drove back and forth from Columbus and Athens to record the album.

This time, they worked at local recording studio Relay Recordings and collaborated closely with engineer Jon Fintel, who even plays on the new EP.

“I felt myself being much more particular about things this time around … and we were much more hands-on in the mixing process [and] even a little bit in the mastering process,” Fisher said. “Really every step of the way we tried to interject our own vision, which was good.”

Following the release of “Only Human,” The Cordial Sins will be doing a Midwest tour, playing shows in cities including Chicago, Philadelphia, Toledo and Newark, Ohio.

At the moment, both Fisher and Dickerson are working day-jobs on top of playing, writing, marketing and networking for The Cordial Sins. Fisher said the eventual goal is to make The Cordial Sins not only their main source of creative focus, but of their time and energy as well.

“We’re just kind of living on a dream,” she said. “I kind of like that … it’s stressful, but I would rather invest my time and energy and money in doing this rather than something that I just can’t stand.”

The Cordial Sins will celebrate the release of the “Only Human” with a show at Ace of Cups on Oct. 21 with openers Cherry Chrome Playing to Vapors. Tickets are $8 in advance or $10 at the door.