Release: Thomas Olvier - The Brightest Light (Deluxe Edition)

Thomas Olvier - The Brightest Light (Deluxe Edition)

Release date: Friday, June 12th 2020

Thomas Oliver will release his new album 'The Brightest Light (Deluxe Edition)' June12 via V2 Records.
The Brightest Light (Deluxe Editon) – Blurb, written by Thomas Oliver:
I wanted to write music that felt new to both me and my fans, and I wanted to be inspired by a crazy environment and a new life.

So I moved to Berlin, Germany, and set up a studio soon after completing a 19-date European tour. Berlin is unconventional, colourful, and sometimes challenging, which is what made it the perfect place to base myself while I wrote this music. I started writing songs as soon as I touched down; I couldn't help it. I was listening to a lot of Gary Clark Jnr, Son Little and Amos Lee at the time, and those shades are definitely evident throughout. I was also meeting people, checking out live music, and immersing myself in the mellow madness that is Berlin. For me, having a studio of my own is vital to the creation of an album, because I love to dive deep into the songs and the productions, and explore the dark corners of them all in the small hours of the night. I love to know that I left no stone unturned. 'The Brightest Light' is the result of eight months of diving deep into my musical mind, and exploring my production abilities. Because it is self-produced and self-mixed, I believe it carries a very personal and intimate touch which I find myself drawn to in others' music. I love all sorts of music, but I have a special love for when I can hear a person's mind in the music, rather than a team of people's minds. James Blake, for example; his music sounds like the complexities of one man's mind, and I find that compelling.

Tracklist: 

1. Thomas Oliver - She's Mine04:09
2. Thomas Oliver - You Shine On Me03:10
3. Thomas Oliver - Bulgarian Mountains03:24
4. Thomas Oliver - Coffee02:59
5. Thomas Oliver - Future Child03:27
6. Thomas Oliver - Ready To Love You03:24
7. Thomas Oliver - Steel On The Strings04:27
8. Thomas Oliver - Alive Again06:59
9. Thomas Oliver - Amsterdam Bender03:44
10. Thomas Oliver - The Time In Tokyo03:19
11. Thomas Oliver - Reprise00:57
12. Thomas Oliver feat. Ashton Sellars - She's Mine (Acoustic)05:02
13. Thomas Oliver - You Shine On Me (Acoustic)03:05
14. Thomas Oliver - Bulgarian Mountains (Acoustic)03:17
15. Thomas Oliver - Amsterdam Bender (Acoustic)03:36

The irony of moving to Berlin to make this record is that it doesn't really sound like Berlin at all. You can find anything you want in Berlin, of course, but when I think of Berlin music, I think Alternative Indie Electronic, or Techno, or Metal. But 'The Brightest Light' sounds to me like a combination of Soul, Roots, Folk and Pop, but it certainly carries some of the energy and diversity of Berlin. I also wrote some of this record in Amsterdam, or inspired by encounters in Amsterdam. This is a singer-songwriter record, but it goes to places that most singer-songwriter records don't go. I'm very proud of it; the writing, the playing, the production and the mixing. I'm very happy to send it out to the world.

 The acoustic version of She's Mine was recorded live in a boatshed on Evan's Bay Parade in Wellington, New Zealand; a collaboration between Thomas Oliver and London-based neo-soul and jazz musician, Ashton Sellars.

"The musical energy between friends is something special, but I think something else that made this recording striking is the fact that Ashton and I have a real respect for each other's craft and dedication to it, so the way we play off of each other carries that. Ashton is an incredible guitar player, so I really wanted to have him shine, so the last solo was always going to be his. There's a rawness to the whole thing which I'm happy to have captured, and to me it captured not just the performance, but a good day of hanging with a friend in our home city."

 The other three additional acoustic versions on the Deluxe Album were recorded in Berlin.

"I love the album version of Amsterdam Bender, but some songs speak in a different way when you expose more of the song in its barest form, and to me the acoustic version of Amsterdam Bender captures the magic of its story in slightly richer way. The song was written as a birthday present for my Dutch girlfriend, about the first weekend we ever spent together. I sent her an iPhone recording of the song on her birthday, and that's all I ever intended it to be, but as it turned out, I liked the song so much that I recorded it for The Brightest Light. And now it's on it twice!"