1. Love Affair
2. Trickle
3. I'm Not In Love
4. Smile
5. All You Ever Needed
6. Indulge Me
7. Speak To Me
8. Liberty
9. Push
10. Trust You
11. Creature Of Comfort
12. Beyond The Fray
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
As electronic music has been swallowed and spit back out by conventional pop,
rock, and rap artists since the 1990s, the distinctions between what is techno
and what is just studio-tweaked amplified guitar rock has noticeably blurred.
While not as adventurous in those explorations of trip-hop and electronic music
as contemporaries like Everything but the Girl or Sneaker Pimps, Olive nevertheless
display a marvelous agility integrating a conventionally charming pop-rock sense
with a more modern sound. With their hearts fully planted in verse-chorus-verse
formats and big, hummable choruses, they still manage to twist their songs around
deep, pulsing bass lines and rhythmically motivated transitions. The result is
daringly melodic and accessible, yet every time the songs threaten to become too
straight for their own good, bursts of electronica around the edges spice up the
mix once again. Take the first song on the record, the blissed-out "Love Affair."
Rhythmic depth in the chorus accentuates a simple chorus just enough, providing
the spring that catapults the melody's hook into your brain. Light drum &
bass colors "I'm Not in Love," a straightforward pop song save for the herky-jerky
cadences and swirling keyboards that make it sound suddenly transcendent. Detractors
could see Olive's music as a dumbed-down trip-hop for the masses, more "trip-pop"
than Tricky. Still, when it's done with this much panache, regardless of whether
it's a move forward or a move back, it's undeniably a lovely ride. --Matthew
Cooke
