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Band & Musician News - NZ Artist Oliver Birch Set to Release Sophomore Album 'To Remember'

NZ Artist Oliver Birch Set to Release Sophomore Album 'To Remember'

09 February 2024 - 0 Comments

To Remember is a ten-song concept album about coming-of-age. It combines experimental/baroque pop, alternative music, shoegaze, new wave, and singer-songwriter music.

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If you are interested in artists such as: Alvvays, Perfume Genius, the 1975, David Bowie, or Phoebe Bridgers, you might enjoy this album. It is about getting to a point where you feel you have left behind a more exciting period in your life. It is about looking back at that period and trying to figure out how to get back to living fully.

Apart from the first and last tracks which bookend the album conceptually, each track (from track two to track nine) corresponds with a typical scene in a coming-of-age film, following its narrator through a journey from their past. The opener, To Remember outlines, from a current day perspective, the artist’s desire to recapture the excitement of their past. It is a hazy, sparkly, nostalgic shoegaze/pop track. New Catholic School then follows it, beginning the journey through the narrator’s memories, exploring angst, and difficulties with developing a sense of identity through a track that is somewhere between shoegaze and pop punk.

Lip Melter details the narrator in the ‘film’ pining for someone out of their reach and is the most poppy and direct track. Track four is the Superbad (Interlude), which follows the narrator in a car, going to a party with their friends. In My Head comes next, which is ‘the party scene’; it is blissful and danceable, matching the narrator’s hazy memories of everything that happened that night.

Twenty Somethings details the narrator meeting their crush at the party; it is the most danceable and funky track on the album. Track seven, Rat Party, is about where it all goes wrong. All of the tensions between friends and others at the party come to a head. It is about growing up sheltered, and choosing to transgress in particular ways, seeking ‘danger’ at a party setting.

On Our Hill is the big emotional moment in the ‘film’. After the conflict in the previous track, it has the narrator and their friends coming back together after the party, sitting on a hill, watching the sun start to rise, and wondering what will happen next for them. A Walk in the Dark is about the drunken walk home and feeling as though you are having your most profound thoughts (but being misguided!) Finally, Cinnamon, the closer track, is a sweet, nostalgic pop tune that documents the narrator reflecting on this whole journey, and where they have to go from here.


Next: Crowded House Return With Uplifting Single 'Oh Hi'

Prev: Boardgames for Blondes releases debut album 'On The Run'

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