Olive Tiger
New Haven, CT | Established. Jan 01, 2013 | INDIE
Music
Press
“With seductive rhythms, whispers of cello, and electronic tinge the single is pure sonic goodness.” - GroundSounds
“...the first single, “Find Myself”, has me happy and deeply disturbed at the same time. Olive Tiger might be one of the greatest things to happen to music since Courtney Barnett.” - AudioFuzz
“The twinkly song is out of this world—painting vivid scenes of impossible beauty, luxurious scenescapes, and creative outbursts.
...It’s hard to write quality music that paints pictures of beauty so vividly. In this case, Olive Tiger nailed it. With their melody-driven electronic sound, the three-piece created a song that makes people want to sing and dance in a field of wildflowers.” - That's Why We Musyc
“Speaking of disparate musical ingredients as brought into a unique unity, New Haven Connecticut’s Olive Tiger bring chamber pop strings into a moody indie-folk rock space, with a hint of hip hop phrasing. That is quite a stew, with none of the flavours being too dominant, making for a wholly original sound.” - The Delete Bin
“Olive Tiger delivers a soulful and dynamic take on electro-folk that showcases their musicianship, from stunning, stripped-down ballads like “Lament” – capturing their early, acoustic-folk leanings – to lush, intricately looped tracks like their lead single, “Find Myself,” that harken to hip-hop, glitching and flowing in the band’s new direction.
… thoughtfully arranged textures, rhythms, swirling melody and words that spellbind not only in their meticulous execution, but also in their emotional feel – and the earnest poetry of Olive’s lyricism. For all of its production and impressive details, “Until My Body Breaks” is an intimate album with expressions of confession, longing and a yearning to connect.
...Lead singles “Find Myself” and “Dark” really show what Olive Tiger can do, as far as building spacey electro-folk landscapes that defy genre and wriggle their ways into your mind." - The Cut-Up
“A futuristic trio, OT fuses chamber music elements, pop, electronic treatments, loops and percussion.
...Olive put on a dazzling mononomenclatural set of e’er intricately-conceptualized material.” - The Day
Discography
Until My Body Breaks - Aug 19, 2016
Photos
Bio
Olive Tiger is an evolution of sound and texture: a nontraditional trio hailing from New England that lushly combines electronics with organic elements of chamber-pop, defying the boundaries of genre in favor of obsessive exploration. Grounded in the stunning songwriting and soaring voice of its bandleader, Olive Tiger arcs continuously toward more meticulous, more rich and more seductive arrangements.
Based in New Haven, Conn., Olive Tiger orbits the vision of singer-songwriter and musician Olive (cello, guitar, vocals, looper), joined by Jesse Newman (violin, electronics) and John McGrath (drums). In 2016, the group asserted its powers and range with a debut full-length record, Until My Body Breaks (Telegraph Recording Company). Pulling thoughtfully from artists like tUnE-yArDs, St. Vincent and Andrew Bird, Olive Tiger created with refined curiosity a collection of detail-rich songs that evokes a broad spectrum of images and emotions—all awash in rich arrangements, elevated by Olive’s pristine and haunting vocals.
Since the project began in 2013, Olive Tiger has garnered growing attention for its work; in January 2017 the band was named Emerging Artist of the Month by The Deli Magazine, and received a 2017 nomination for Best in State during the New England Music Awards. Olive Tiger has also shared the stage with acts including Kishi Bashi, Xenia Rubinos, Kyp Malone (of TV on the Radio), Rubblebucket and Diane Cluck—kin in sonic exploration. The band is currently touring its full-length record with dates throughout New England, and has played everywhere from the International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven, to The Ballroom at the Outer Space, the Bowery Electric, the park at MASS MoCA and New London’s I Am Fest.
The band flows from Olive’s creative well, an inspired, strong and sensitive force. Even the band’s most electronic offerings are grounded deeply in the human and the vulnerable; Olive writes from personal experience—heartbreak, hope, healing and growth. Translated into the language of the band, the result is a soundscape upon which Olive takes captivating risks and delivers unpredictable melodies.
With a Master’s Degree in music therapy, Olive founded the project as a deliberate space for growth and expression, engaging with music as an emotional transaction of energy. Listeners have responded in kind, placing Olive Tiger among Connecticut’s most notable up-and-coming musicmakers. With a shifting array of collaborators, Olive’s philosophy toward creativity quickly carried the project from its folk-jazz roots to a spacey plane of experimentation in 2013, when she began to manipulate her voice and cello with a looper pedal. The evolution is only set to continue.
-Dani Capalbo
Band Members
Links
