Kitty Empire
The Observer, Saturday 30 July 2011
Under the alias Oliver Henry, Brian Olive cut his chops in bands such as the Soledad Brothers and the Greenhornes: retro-leaning, attitudinal outfits who came to some prominence in the slipstream of the White Stripes. Next up are sax parts on Dr John’s next album, but in the meantime Olive’s second solo offering lends a pleasingly spacey, psychedelic edge to vintage sounds, with sympathetic production provided by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. You could argue retro soul and R&B are two of the decade’s hegemonic sounds, but there’s no vamping here. Rather, songs such as “Go On Easy” glide by in an opiated glaze, while “Strange Attracter” makes unexpectedly groovy use of the bagpipes.