{"id":5969,"date":"2010-12-05T14:10:49","date_gmt":"2010-12-05T14:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/?p=5969"},"modified":"2022-06-09T12:27:04","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T11:27:04","slug":"ollie-stewart-night-bell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/ollie-stewart-night-bell\/","title":{"rendered":"Ollie Stewart – Night Bell"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>MySpace has done a lot for music, this is undeniable. I’m most certainly not one of those insufferable bores, who harks back to the “good old days” of pre-internet. Obviously, the internet has made the world a more exciting place to live for everyone involved in music, and MySpace has played a central role in changing the music industry over the past 5 years or so.<\/p>\n

Why then, do I so often find myself cursing this website’s name and dismissing many of artists I’ve discovered via it, even when i’ve specifically asked that artist’s PR to send me a MySpace link? It’s that sodding “General Info” section, first sub-section “Genre”.<\/p>\n

Ollie Stewart<\/a> describes himself as “Experimental\/Alternative\/Fusion”. By “Experimental” he is presumabely referring to his “unusual” percussion, for which he samples blocks of wood, something that has been common in music for over 100 years now. By “Alternative” I assume he means an alternative to all other music, and, I’m completely stuck on “Fusion”.<\/p>\n

All of the above is unecessarily harsh, and for that I conceed that I am an ass. Ollie’s debut EP Night Bell <\/em>is a consistent record that has been written as a complete work in which each song is part of the greater puzzle, not a mere collection of showcase songs.<\/p>\n

This is a very strong first effort from a singer-songwriter that clearly posseses a great deal of potential. Ollie is musically very clever and manages to build complicated textures both ontop of and around simple ideas without ever cluttering the song’s core.<\/p>\n

Night Bell <\/em>opens with a song that well represents Ollie ‘I See Love’ (see bottom of this page). The song uses close vocal harmonies that create a sense of tension against a wash of synth pad chords. An unsettling listening experience, but a relatively enjoyable one.<\/p>\n

The record’s stand out track ‘Tare’ (also embeded beneath this post), although a fine song that proves to me Ollie has more to give and is worth keeping an eye on, perfectly exposes the EP’s biggest weakness.<\/p>\n

‘Tare’ uses dynamics with great effect and has a pretty memorable chorus. The song builds with great tension to a chorus that provides a euphoric moment of release – how very satisying. It is, however, the only song on the EP to achieve this. Generally speaking the EP if full of clever songs that feel a little bit flat and don’t seem to do enough to keep a listener interested for too long.<\/p>\n

Aside from this one song, listening to the EP is a little bit like watching a ‘blue’ movie that censors out all of the good bits; unbearably stressful and dissapointing.<\/p>\n

So, should you buy Night Bell<\/em>? Well, if you like Muse you might like Ollie Stewart. Earlier I criticised the way in which he described himself on MySpace. Oddly enough, his page doesn’t have a “sounds like” section, but if it did I would suggest putting “shamelessly similar to Muse, but less accomplished”, which isn’t a criticism, by the way.<\/p>\n

Have a listen to the songs below and if you like them you can try the EP on Spotify or you can buy it from iTunes by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Follow me on twitter @monkeyhotel<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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