Where some take years to establish a cohesive sound and testimony, the two-piece act Olivia has seemingly materialized into the scene since emerging last summer; crafting songs which become instant classics within the world of post-emo influenced music.
In a community still finding its footing, the works of Olivia come at audiences with a rare found assurance in their sounds; from start to close each track is approached confidently with clear image in mind. Matt and Aaron have created more than a band, but a world where the two exist outside of their personal brands to brood experimental creation;
“Olivia is a real art project that we can distance our personal selves and personal “brands” from and fixate on as its own independent thing.”
No rules or standards make for a safe space where the two can collaborate with each other easily. Matt, also known as Little Shadows, found himself in a band for the first time with the creation of Olivia, and since he can agree the creative benefits have paid off, “I’ve never been in a band before and have always self-produced music until we decided to pursue Olivia as a real thing. It’s honestly a huge breath of fresh air to have someone to bounce ideas off of and come to collective agreement on artistic direction.”
In their first year they’ve garnered a following through their thought out single releases, collaborations with others paving ways in the community, and high energy live performances. All of this has built to their debut album Poster Boy, a love letter to Matt and Aaron’s work ethic and creative vision shared thus far.
Poster Boy is refined yet raw; a reflection of one’s true self and desires despite the mental repercussions. The theme of vulnerability masked by apathy only reinforces the honesty of the lyrics, a self proclaimed cornerstone of Olivia. This project outlines what the duo stand for as artists, “Poster Boy is a blueprint for us. It’s an expository project that’s meant to show what we’re about. High gloss production, thoughtful and honest writing — it’s all cornerstones of what Olivia is about. This album is a hyper-focused foray into that territory and should give the listeners a concrete idea of the level of art that we’re capable of, while still keeping them,” Matt explained.
The process of deciding which songs belonged on the album was meticulous and intentional, “We’re constantly writing so much music that it was hard to decide where writing for Poster Boy ended and writing for the future started. I think these songs have the ‘perfect imperfections’ of a band’s infancy, which makes them not only special to me, but important to show as part of a debut.”
Carefully pieced, Poster Boy’s themes exist outside of the songwriting to not only force a cohesive mood but to show the capabilities of the duo laced in ‘perfect imperfections’; a rusted carousel of a repertoire. Beyond the cohesive songwriting, the use of grayscale thus far within Olivia’s visual art is explained in the development of the album, “Olivia is an art project for me as much as it is a band, so we take visual cues just as seriously as the music that we release..”
“..Poster Boy is a record devoid of empathy and full of hard feelings – and there’s no color in that.”
Olivia is built upon shared trust between Matt and Aaron, and building this album was no exception, “The main thing that we provide each other with when writing music is space. Aaron and I didn’t write or record music anything for Poster Boy in the same room — we really tried to give each other breathing room to do what we do best, which stems from a pretty fundamental trust and understanding in what this project is about on both sides.”
Poster Boy closed Olivia’s first year only to mysteriously foreshadow what will come in 2019. With Olivia still in its beginning, who knows the direction the duo will go in further works, and leaving us guessing is all too intentional.
“We are incredibly thankful for every single person who has listened to the record or supported us in any fashion. I personally look forward to blowing everyone’s expectations out of the water for what’s next for us.”
– Matt / Little Shadows