Ever since we heard Oliver Tank’s unexpected flip of ‘Beautiful’ by Snoop Dogg back in 2011, we’ve been huge fans of his slow-burning take on electronica.
With two EPs under his belt, headline shows and performances alongside the likes of Lana Del Rey and Lorde, Oliver is returning with his debut album, the concisely titled OT. The full-length follows from lead single ‘Swerve’ which dropped last year, furthering his brand of stirring music with captivating success, and also starring his long-time vocal collaborator Fawn Myers.
With OT still fresh in our earholes, we got the Sydney-based producer to give us a track-by-track breakdown of the stunning effort, where he describes the events and emotions which have driven its sounds. This May, Oliver will be bringing OT on the road for his first national tour since 2014 – see the dates below and get ready for plenty of gentle swaying. Grab your tickets right here:
1. CIRCLES
I’d written this track a long time ago. Always liked it but never finished it until recently. It felt like the perfect start to the album. Its super chill, has this nice piano melody and it really relaxes me when I listen to it. I like to mix natural instruments with electronic sounds in a lot of my music and I feel this mix is really seamless. The song itself is about how I’d struggled the last few years. I felt like I wasn’t going anywhere, like I was going around in circles and not progressing. Thankfully I had people around me who helped me through this time in my life. It meant the world to me
2. UNREAL
I’d written the lyrics to this track a while back after a conversation I had with my parents. I think they could tell I was kind of down about the whole music thing and they just told me to believe in myself. I think this is a struggle a lot of artists have. Just the doubt you have and the confidence you need to keep pursuing your dreams. It felt good to express myself and I’m really happy with how the song turned out The lyrics at the end of this song I think are some of the best I’ve written. They tell a story and rhyme together really nicely. Musically its got that huge sounding distorted guitar that I love to put in my tracks and a nice synth melody that loops in the middle. This was another old song that went through many iterations. Really happy with how this one turned out
3. LOST
This track is more similar to my older work I think. It reminds me a bit of Last Night I Heard Everything in Slow Motion. It started off as a guitar riff that you hear throughout and I built the rest of the song around that. I challenged myself to use more lyrics than I’d usually include in a track. The song features Fawn Myers on vocals and Wren (Jess Graham) playing strings. The song is like a conversation I’m having with Fawn. She’s asking me where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing and I’m explaining how I’ve been feeling and whats been going on. Wren did an amazing job on strings for the track as well she is super talented and really added a lot to the story I was trying to tell.
4. WASSUP
The life of an artists is quite lonely at times I found when I was working on the album i was very shut off from the world. I don’t have very many artist friends in Sydney so I was alone a lot of the time when i was making music. I’d call my friends to hang out and often if they were busy it would get me down because I didn’t see many people and I felt so isolated the whole time. Although the song is quite sad my friends have always been there for me the and I’m doing what I love so I am happy. The song focuses more on the dark times. I didn’t want to be alone, I thought I’d just start drinking or doing other really unhealthy things when your just shut off from the world. At the end the song resolves with my friends being there for me during these times. That was really important
5. SWERVE
Swerve is a very personal track for me. Sometimes its tough to let people know who you really are and how you really feel. But I’ve felt more comfortable expressing myself through my music lately. I doubted myself a lot these last few years. I was uncertain and afraid and I let it take control of my life. Recently i told myself to just let it all go. Be yourself. Believe in who you are and what you do, be confident. Swerve is about that doubt I felt, putting this song out into the world is my way of letting go of it. Wren (Jess Graham) played strings on this track also which took it to another level once again. I love how natural it sounds against the synths and other more electronic production
6. HIGH WITH YOU
This track started with the synth line which i really like, I love how its wavy against the beat and vocals. The song is about addiction. I had a fairly serious addiction problem in the years leading up to the album. High with you talks about how I’d try to escape my problems by getting high to forget about them. But they don’t go away if you just ignore them. I’ve since quit smoking and its a big reason I was able to overcome a lot of my issues. Its really helped me move forward in my life with my music. It was a very difficult time for me but again music was always there for me and finishing this track and the whole album is very symbolic of the progress I’ve made.
7. SILHOUETTE
This is like a two part song. The night out partying and then the hangover next morning. I wanted to incorporate the sample in different ways. More beat orientated in the beginning and then more chill and laid back at the end. The song focuses on regret and themes similar to the rest of the album. Its one of the more upbeat songs I’ve written musically. I really like the distinction between the two main parts of the track and how you have to wait till the very end till the lyrics come in.
8. FALLING
This is one of the more summery pop tracks I’ve written. The song is about not wanting to be far from the people who mean the most to you. Fawn Myers is again featured on the track. She’s an incredible singer and I love the way her voice sounds against the production of the track. I also love the way our voices sound together. This track has a real summer vibe to it. I’d made the intro loop a long time ago and then with the help of Jono Steer (co-producer) we made the verse sections which are really different and down tempo. I like the contrast between the sections. I think this one will be really fun to play live.
9. CHARLENE
This song is about being comfortable with who you are and how you feel. It started out as a really beat heavy hip hop style track which I made my own by reinterpreting the ‘Tempations’ sample to talk about feeling confident within yourself. I love the synth when the verse comes in. Its a really nice progression and its so different to what you’d expect to be there. I like surprising people with my music. I also built the lyrics around the sample kind of like a RnB call and response track from back in the early 00s. I took the original vocal and gave it a new meaning in the context of my own track. Really happy with this one.
10. LETTING GO
The last track on the album. It’s about letting go of all the stress, doubt and everything else that was holding me back these last few years. The album release has meant a lot for me. I wanted this track to be at the end to show that I’m getting better and I feel so much more confident in myself now than I did years ago when these songs were nothing more than a burden of an unfinished project. I love the bloopy synth that comes in during the second verse and how the acoustic guitar sounds against the beats and other production. This is another really old song that went through many iterations. It feels good to resolve all these old tracks and finally have them out into the world.
