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Starting with a 'Ensemble', a gentle touch on piano keys brings out a beautiful sound, bending thorough time, accompanied by strings. The complexity of this melodic rendition changing flow with a range of emotions is something you can experience in this track. The sentimental personality of this composition can be visualised through beautiful artistry.
The music of this album speaks a transcendental language, communicating with the listeners with its expressive feelings.
'Quinte Flush', a title that can be considered as a metaphor to describe its musical composition or performance that is characterized by a smooth, flowing sequence of notes or chords that are all of the same tonal quality or mood. The professionalism and classiness of this track takes your breath away with its delicately fading in and out pieces, blending together, establishing a strong theme for this album.
The evolution every track goes through is very thoughtful and crafted with variable levels of depth, creating lively characteristics.
'Porcelaine' is an evocative and poetic title that could suggest a delicate and fragile beauty, much like a piece of porcelain. The power of diversion through various scales and chord progressions requires musical intelligence which Olivier Olier passionately puts in here along with other tracks. Covering a range of pitches and arrangements, the use of piano and strings in this composition further enhances sophistication and refinement.
'Là ou ailleurs' is track submerged in a sense of movement or travel between different musical ideas or themes, a sense of choice or possibility, portrayed by a certain flexibility or adaptability in the composition. Until now we already have realised Olivier Olier's talent of showing the beautiful colours of this genre through a piano proving its versatility that covers a wide range of emotions and moods. Apart from this, strings have provided a rich and complex texture to the overall sound in this track. It has energy of exploration or discovery, as if the composition is taking the listener on a journey through different musical landscapes or ideas.
Different from previous tracks, 'Envie de violences' introduces a consistent rhythm. A track that literally means 'Desire for violence' delivering a feeling of tension, conflict, or aggression through its composition. The driving force of this track holds a pacing drum beat performed by Matt Brown, on top of which the harmonic foundation exists that supports and enhances the overall sound. This composition is allowing the listener to experience and process difficult or rough emotions. It suggests the feeling of an urge for violence, but struggling to control. Again, a very interesting thought to showcase through music. The layer of piano blended not just by Olivier but also by Mina Jackson adds more musical brilliance to this track.
To extend our appreciation, Jessica Townsend and Tom McCluskey have done a fantastic job on this album accompanying on the strings. Together, their music is a true work of art, a perfectly balanced and enchanting atmosphere that will surely captivate the audience.
'La ronde', an instrumental piece structured in a circular form, with recurring themes or motifs that are developed and transformed throughout the piece. The lush harmonic performance gives you an intense feeling of movement, continuity, and interconnection, which could be reflected in its musical structure, flow and dynamics. The production on these tracks is outstanding, perfecting the quality of acoustics and capturing the intricate details of all instruments.
'Minmaj' has a fascinating combination of minor and major tonalities. It's mind blowing how well its done without a single distracting note. Such a musical mode is extremely challenging to execute. The coordination is done so well that it clearly reflects in the music giving a contrast of emotions, tension and release. Such an artwork is also open to interpretation giving literners the opportunity to apply their imagination alongside the artist's thought process.
Continuing to the next track we have 'Une prière', a prayer. This is an instrumental that invokes contemplation, solemnity, and reverence. It can also be represented as a musical expression of devotion, supplication, or meditation. It is a reflective and emotional piece, having a broader perspective on its musical composition. Short but sweet, it is heart-touching and mellifluous in nature.
A journey though 'Bonded trains', holds a deep connection with impassioned motion through its tune and rhythm. The abstractness of this track lies in its buildup from the beginning until the rhythmic flow is suddenly dropped, to be followed again by pizzicato. Metaphorically it can suggest the connection between individuals building up to a strong relationship, conveying emotions such as trust, cooperation, and unity.
'Un chemin' brings the end of 'Départs', we get an interesting performance on English horn by Angela Schleihauf, signalling a path, a way or departure. The use of piano and strings in combination with the English horn creates a range of emotions from melancholy to uplifting. The English horn's lower, mellow tones may evoke a sense of nostalgia or reflection, sounds heavenly! The motion expressed through piano still holds on, with strings covering the spacious background filling the headroom. It may represent the feeling of overcoming obstacles or challenges along the way, leading to an epiphany of self-discovery. It may inspire feelings of hope, determination, and resilience, or evoke memories of a specific journey or path taken in the past.
Definitely listen to 'Départs' by Olivier Olier on Bandcamp.
Composer: Olivier Olier
Arranged by: Olivier Olier & Jessica Townsend
Piano: Olivier Olivier
Violins: Jessica Townsend
Cello: Tom McCluskey
Drums on 'Envie de violences': Matt Brown
Additional piano on 'Envie de violences': Mina Jackson
English horn on 'Un chemin': Angela Schleihauf
Mixing: Matt Brown
Mastering: Pete Maher (Topfloor Productions Ltd)
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About Olivier Olier:
"Minimalist pianist, composer of imaginary film soundtracks, distant observer of Erik Satie or Philip Glass, Olivier offers you new beginnings for your inner journeys."
In Olivier's words - "I am a french self taught guitarist who played in various indie pop bands. During the lockdown I decided to learn the piano. Few years later, ten compositions of piano & strings quartet are ready to be heard."