Oliveray - Wonders

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A1 - Growing Waterwings
A2 - The Book She Wrote And In The Time
A3 - Piano In The Pond!
A4 - Harmonics
B1 - Hiding Hydiration
B2 - You Don't Love
B3 - Just Resign
B4 - Dreamer

Note: videos may not match the album...

5...according to our Mike on Thu 15 Dec, 2011.

The Starsky and Hutch of minimal are back with their first fully-fledged standalone collaborative album under the name Oliveray, where they blur the lines between neofolk, neoclassical and contemporary minimal composition a little more for us. I expect you're familiar with some of these guys' work previously. They're always popping up on each other's records, and just the other day Frahm put out an ace 7” recording of a synth improvisation which he recorded for his friend because Brodders liked the way his Juno sounded. This record has a mixture of instrumental and vocal songs. The opening instrumental tracks have string swells and piano tinkles that immediately bring to mind the brilliant A Winged Victory For The Sullen. This album as a whole is more playful and kinetic over its course, though, with other instrumentals like the pulsating 'Piano in the Pond!' taking a more explorative minimal space jazz direction. Meanwhile 'Just Resign' has a smoky mournful late night barroom feel with a movingly otherworldly pump organ accompaniment whose roughness cuts through the silky piano like sandpaper. The vocal tracks are stripped right back to allow Broderick's tentative and soulful voice, not a million miles from Sandro Perri's in terms of tone and delivery, a little space to breathe, making a really affecting kind of lounge-inflected neofolk with stoical piano lifting it to new heights when needed. I really get the feeling that this project is the product of a great deal of affection and the result is a truly indulgent listen. You really feel like you're taking a glimpse into a fruitful moment in a friendship where both parties are learning together how to exploit their mutual obsession with sounds. The tones captured here and the musicianship with which they are delivered are impeccable. It's the kind of late night music that really resonates in you, and I look forward to hearing more from this project.

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Being musical companions and label mates for years, it was just a matter of time until modern contemporaries Peter Broderick and Nils Frahm would start their first standalone project together. Oliveray was born in their shared home city of Berlin and will see its debut release Wonders - "a nice little collection of eight musical pieces." Say hello to Oliveray! - Blog post by Peter Broderick: 'I am super excited to announce the debut release from a project very dear to me! Oliveray consists of me, Peter Ray Broderick, and one of my greatest friends in the world, the incredible musician / producer Nils Oliver Frahm. We've been collaborating in many ways these past couple years and traveling a lot together. Now finally we have arrived with our first truly 50/50 collaboration effort entitled Wonders. It all started when I was asked to create a cover version for my great friends Efterklang. I asked Nils if he'd like to work with me on the project. So one day we got together in his studio and ran through the song (Harmonics) a couple times and then laid it down to tape in the most relaxed way possible - me playing the guitar and singing and him on the piano... We were both really happy and inspired with how easy and fun this process was. We thought you could hear and feel that relaxed atmosphere in the song. So when our Japanese friends Cote Labo asked us to prepare some kind of release for our Japan tour, me and Nils set aside a couple days to record some music in a similar manner. Without much preconception we just set up the mics and started recording, with an aim to create a short album of half instrumentals, half vocal-based songs. We ran through a few fresh musical ideas that each of us had, improvising along with each other, sometimes just improvising entirely. And before we new it we had a nice little collection of eight intimate pieces of music. The first official output of what will hopefully be a lifelong collaboration, Wonders feels really special to me. Here comes Oliveray!'

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