#Matthew Mckessick

[andrewrosswatson1987]

REVIEW: WHO’S OLIVIA? LIVE AT THE CELLAR; APRIL 5, 2019

Photo Credits: Chloë Coll (Denholm Promotions) The Cellar’s one of the smallest live music venues in Aberdeen to greet Spring with.  Last night, right in Aberdeen’s city centre, The Cellar hosted an intimate gig with varied sounds throughout the night.  The aforementioned Spring, day’s forecast, explaining the quite healthy turnout. There were three acts to pin your ears back for.  Headliners, Who’s Olivia?, with Keys To The Caravan and Terra Nøva in supporting slots. “You’re in the big time, now,” said the somewhat tongue in cheek house engineer during soundcheck.  “We don’t hang about, here.” For whatever reason, “You’re in the jungle, baby.  You’re gonna die” from “Welcome To The Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses sprang to mind.

Kicking off this gig were Terra Nøva, an ambient alternative rock four-piece from Aberdeen.  They comprised of Shaun Will, vocalist and rhythm guitarist; Joe Birnie, lead guitarist; Nathan Bain, bassist and Chris Van Der Wal, drummer. These guys are, indeed, atmospheric which’s evidenced on their debut EP. They mix shoegazing elements, atmospheric with choppy chords inspiring football chants live.  Wild lead playing revelatory for a quite sedate genre. Recent (March 24) Grampian’s Got Talent finalists, too. Terra Nøva’s Euphoric EP can be bought on iTunes, here. They began hard hitting; intense drum, spaced out guitar, driving bass and hoarse vocal made for an interesting concoction with the added bonus of soaring lead.  After this was the seemingly jazzy shuffle of drum, throbbing bass and vocals conveying a real sense of vulnerability. “One, two, three, four!” This hammering into the next.  This contrasting somewhat with the sedate, eerie wailing of guitar, ethereal and otherworldly.  The clean rhythm licks a tad funky.  After that, baring all. The intended conclusion to the set proved that they kept their most raucous for last, though there was a calm before the storm. Joe became as animated as those licks in his lead playing, and that’s saying something.  In the zone, wild and free. Next, the conclusion proper to their set.  “Oregon”.  This with syncopated, hi-hat intensity with a cacophonic end.  They definitely left the best until last, the crowd absolutely loving it.  What a way to finish, and the lead playing as vital as ever with much grit and attitude.

Main support act were four-piece rock and indie straight from Kemnay in Aberdeenshire, Keys To The Caravan.  They comprised of Gregor Carlin, rhythm guitarist and vocalist; Callum Ewen, lead guitarist; Michael Fyffe, bassist and vocalist and Matthew Mckessick, drummer. They like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Stone Roses, The Smiths, Amy Winehouse, Biffy Clyro and Don McLean. With over twenty thousand views on their Facebook videos, this upcoming originals band are unsigned despite those phenomenal views.  They release their first EP this summer to put that following to the test. They started with some soulful rock. Moody, brooding and spirited. Then it was wistful before building into scratchy strum of electric guitar.  It had a sort of rapping delivery to it, too.  “Brit poppy, Paul Weller-y sort of style,” was how they introduced the next. Angular and hard edged, indeed. Commanding, high register bass. “Bouncer” was where things got a little more serious.  Basically, one of their friends had been manhandled by a doorman and died because of it.  Abrasive, choppy and daresay heavy handed to convey their anger and desolation. Subsequent to this was a cover of Nirvana track, “Heart Shaped Box”. Good vocal harmonies in this reinterpretation.  This strangely followed by a good soul rock workout.  “Broken Mirror” was wistful and contemplative, shoving drum making it otherwise. Following this, a night crawler riff on bass suggesting intrigue with lead playing much impassioned.   Another big cover, now.  This in the guise of “Sympathy For The Devil”, The Rolling Stones.  Seemingly more lead bass than the Bill Wyman original, how you can add to an already legendary bassline’s a feat in itself.  Set ending on a high. Headline act, How’s Olivia?, were an ambient pop four-piece from Glasgow. They comprised of Colette McLaughlin, lead vocalist, guitarist and pianist; Max Murphy, guitarist, vocalist and synthesiser; Ben Main, bassist and vocalist and Rhys Robertson, drummer and vocalist. They enjoy the likes of Wolf Alice, Amanda Bergman, Waxahatchee, TesseracT, Rishloo, Jeff Buckley, Regina Spektor and Amy Winehouse. Tastes within the band going from metal, to progressive rock and even jazz. They formed late 2017 and they release first single, “She”, this summer.  This with a debut EP coming out in the next few months, too. They opened pleading “Touch Me”.  This with processed vocal before going into syncopated hi-hat groove and eerie synth. Another plead, perhaps not pyrotechnic, in “Set Me Alight”.  Slow, emphatic hit of the drum.  Reverberating.  Then laidback and kind of jazzy. Contemplative, then crushing cacophony. Then you told, quite plainly, “You’ll Never Know”.  Hi-hat intensity, calm but busy in a jazzy sort of way.  Then that hit.  Victorious.  Then hurried and anxious, again. “Trigger” was like straight out a Western, tumbleweed blowing by through some dirt town.  Perhaps, the trigger of some sharpshooter’s gun? Anyway, moody and forlorn music. Vocals belted out.  Keys tinkling amidst much, loud fanfare. As said, they release first single, “She”, this summer and that’s what they played next. This slow and melancholy.  Barren and empty until that almost swooning, mournful vocal.  Later this soared, eloquent in expressing pain. “Bleed”, you could imagine, more painful.  Swaying from side to side, like crashing of waves.  The drums hitting like an old fire bell, ringing with immediacy, the guitar work intricate.  The bass strangely funky, too.  The gathered crowd were then requested, as by title, to look back on all “Since September”.  Melancholy reared its head.  Slow and slightly despondent, the thump of drum like a heartbeat.  Bass grooving, right in the pocket, bouncing off well with the guitar and drum.  The vocal right down the microphone and overloading slightly.  Real grit. Maybe the next would answer the question of the night, just who’s “Olivia”? This was sad, everything at a leisurely pace.  Perhaps happy in a longing kind of way.  Pining for, anticipating every moment with, Olivia? To further this, things could get yet more enraptured in “Give Yourself To Me”. Wistful and intricately plucked. Pulsing synthesiser went right through you, weird like a higher plane of existence.  This grew bolder and more elaborate. “Just for Aberdeen,” Collette perhaps said at the behest of Max, who’s originally an Aberdonian. There was stomp of drum for emphasis at the start of “Desire”.  Quite despondent, though.  Top of the lungs vocal in despair.  Guitar and vocal refrain suggested change of outlook.  Hitting harder, more emphatically.  High register bass.  Vocal blowing a gasket.  Overloaded electronics blowing a fuse. Closer, “Animal”, unveiled the somewhat primal.  The beat of the drum lead into an emphatic rocker.  Vocals soaring, primal animal instinct.  A fitting conclusion.

Also visit their Facebook pages to keep tabs on Who’s Olivia?