Olenka & the Autumn Lovers: and now we sing

[Benjamin A. Vazquez U.E.]

and now we sing

Artist: Olenka & the Autumn Lovers
Album: and now we sing
Year: 2010
CD#: 50000
Best Tracks: #1, #2, #4, #5, #6, #9, #11, #12, #13
Comments Overall: We've been waiting for this one for a while. Worth the wait. Energetic. Magnificent. Folksey. Brilliantly orchestrated.

1. Odessa, 2:01 - Folksey. Strong rhythym. Starts slower, but picks up substantially after thirty seconds. Excellent melody. Strong ending.
2. Clean, 2:03 - Strong opening. Moves along quickly. Almost rock. Excellent melody. Marvelously energetic. A few breaks, but pretty continuously moving along overall.
3. East End, 3:26 - Countryish. Quiet(er). Somewhat sad. A song about poverty in the East End (of Vancouver, though that's not in the lyrics). Substantial range of volumes within the song.
4. Motel Blues, 2:45 - Steady rhythym. Quiet. Slow. Longing. Simple.
5. Go, 4:39 - Begins slow and simple with guitar and voice. Drums come in at forty seconds. Picks up quickly thereafter. Excellent instrumentation. Excellent melody. Best vocals on the CD, perhaps? Very energetic part midway through which breaks into something slow and exhausted around 3:10. Builds back up, but but fades out.
6. Mary's Song, 2:22 - A child's ditty. Dancing in the village square. Lively melody. Energetic. Stacatto. Something of an edge to the piece. Ends abruptly.
7. No Coins, 3:34 - Stacatto. Begins slow. Picks up and drops down again repeatedly. Fades out at the end.
8. Lark, 2:09 - Simple, effective rhythym. Melody rises slowly, gradually. Melody changes substantially at 1:14. Essentially a new song. Above comments still apply, though. Picks up a bit towards the end, then fades out.
9. Sparrow, 1:53 - Begins slow. Suddenly picks up. Polka-like. Strong rhythym. Lots of energy. LOTS of energy. Ends on a high note.
10. Shame, 2:06 - "Sad" in Olenka terms. A mournful tune with jarringly harsh instrumentation. Opens out into something rich, clear, and beautiful towards the end, then becomes slow again at the very end.
11. Berlin, 3:39 - Slow. Quiet. Mournful.
12. Mama's Bay, 2:58 - Countryesque. Begins slow. Guitar & banjo? Drums come in at 0:55. Lovely. Calming. Excellent violin.
13. Louise of Littleville, 5:59 - Excellent melody. Moves along nicely. Quiet. Lively. Lovely. Brilliant melodic section starts at 2:50. Positively spectacurlaur from that point forth. Bursts magnificently at the end. Bizzare final drum attachment.
14. Sweet Little Road, 2:40 - Begins very slowly and quietly. Lovely. Dissolves the rush. Slow and quiet throughout. Calming.

Note I: Also posted under indie.
Note II: I mean, really, it's Olenka. What the heck can I say?
Note III: I feel awkward about leaving 'East End' off the "best" list, and I know there are people who disagree with me on that point - many are saying it's the best on the entire CD. Not sure how they can say that given the bloody masterpieces that are 'Clean', 'Sparrow', and 'Louise of Littleville'. Either way, the "best" list is necessicarily subjective. Do please bear that in mind. Indeed, as it stands the "best" list contains nine out of fourteen tracks, and is hence reasonably useless, really.

Website: www.olenkalovers.com/
MySpace: www.myspace.com/olenkalovers
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Olenka-and-the-Autumn-Lovers/84797230018
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olenka_and_the_Autumn_Lovers

[Benjamin A. Vazquez U.E.]

This one's going to be personal.

I really don’t actually know what I can say about Olenka’s new CD. When I first arrived at CHRW and did a mock show for Michael, our program director, he said that I was being far too exuberant. I was calling too many of my pieces “the best”, “magnificent”, “spectacular”. He was right too. I did it far too much. Moreover, I did it without any real justification. When I said "best" I meant "the CD which speaks to me the most”.

And this CD speaks to me for many, many reasons, some of which I expect no one to share. When I moved to London some four years ago, I didn't like the place, and I didn't expect to stay. I was here, in the interim, because my family wanted me around, but I had every intention of moving back to Montreal, or possibly even on to New York. This place seemed small, unattractive, and bled of culture.

I first experienced Olenka shortly after I moved here. My cousin dragged me out to a concert of hers - this was ages before the Autumn Lovers - on the basis of a poster he happened to like. Little men marching around with mushrooms. The concert was at the London Music Club. I snuggled up close to the stage. I felt intimate and comfortable. She had distributed noise makers, and I took to them with some degree of vigour. Endlessly cheery - I don't know how she keeps it up - she chatted with my cousin and I for a healthy chunk of time, and afterwards we corresponded briefly.

I let it drop. I still didn't much like London. I didn't want to believe there was an arts scene here. I wanted to be free to pick up and head east whenever I got the chance. Anyway, she was good, but she was also a local. Surely that was a bad thing.

I ran into Olenka again about the same time I started hosting shows up at CHRW. Both of her CDs were in the studio, and both of them got listened to, repeatedly. One of them actually spent a substantial period of time in my apartment, something which I really shouldn't be mentioning in a review which will probably be read around the studio.

I liked London a bit more by then. I'd gotten settled in, although I was uncomfortably aware that I was settling. I didn't like that fact. And Olenka became part of the settling process. In a good way. I listened to the music again, and I loved it. And this time the emotional bleed-overs ran the other way. I stopped disliking Olenka because she was associated with London. I started liking London because it was associated with Olenka. She wasn't the only thing which won me over, but she was one of the best.

Olenka's music was growing faster at this point anyway, but for me the pace increased at a rate far quicker than it did in reality. I no longer wanted to see something thin and bled of life. I wanted to see something rich, full, and vibrant. And I found it. It always was there for me to find, all over the city, but it took a while for me to do the deed. And once I found it in Olenka I started finding it all over London.

This latest CD speaks to me because the music meshes so perfectly with how I see London. Rich. Beautiful. Elaborate. Threads of musical tones laid one on top of the other - no two the same, but all coming together in the end.

In the end I cannot, and will not, review this CD objectively. I love this CD, and I love London. I cannot separate these two facts in my mind. I love London because it's the sort of city which could produce a product like this. It's the sort of city which could nurture these musicians, and release this kind of creativity, these kinds of collaborations. I love this CD because I honestly believe that it's the best London has ever produced. The thing turns on itself. I could as well argue that I ought to hate the city and CD alike. Logically it makes no sense.

Do I expect better yet from the city? Absolutely. I see this as a foretaste. I see so many talented musicians doing so much good work. I don't see how it will happen, or where it will come from, but I expect this CD to be surpassed again and again and again.

But, as foretastes go, this one's pretty good. I expect better, but I couldn't possibly ask for it. I'll still be listening to this one until the day I die.

- Reviewed by Benjamin A. Vazquez, U.E.