Ollie West - Shelf Life
Ollie is a twenty three year old singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer based in Manchester.
Having grown up surrounded by the music of Billy Joel, Bruce Hornsby and The Beatles, Ollie’s music draws influence from the classic songwriting greats as well as taking inspiration from classical, folk and americana.
Having met his band mates at the RNCM in Manchester, he formed the first carnation of the band, The Ollie West Band, and took them out on the road across the UK to promote their 2017 EP.
The release of their debut album Time Stood Still in 2019 featured the critically acclaimed singles The Ballad of Richard and Sophie and Home, the latter of which gained national radio play, and the ensemble subsequently became Scala Radio’s young artist of the week.
In November 2019, against all advice, Ollie decided to permanently expand the line up to a stellar group of fourteen musicians fresh out of the RNCM and subsequently The Wildflowers were born.
On Friday 6 November Ollie West & The Wildflowers released their first single in over a year and a half, Shelf Life.
It was written by Ollie in a Tesco delivery van and recorded in the coronavirus UK lockdown, Shelf Life talks in part about Ollie’s personal struggles with anxiety, whilst embracing the idea of staying at home and surrounding yourself with the things and people that matter to you the most, a sentiment everyone can relate to in this time.
Shelf Life is a laid back indie folk track, it has a richness of sound with the various instrumentation, but primarily the tracks catchy melody is set by the guitars and drums, the other instruments float in and out to add warmth.
Ollie’s vocals wrap around the melody like a comfort blanket as he takes us through a reflection of his own struggles with mental health illustrated by his colourful lyrics in the opening verse “my sad little shelf life hangs by a tether, leaves that were green now wilted and weathered, isn’t a kind way to say that I've seen better days”.
It’s these personal lyrics that resonate with us, particularly in our current living environment and allow us to fully absorb the greatness of the track, it remains upbeat in its melody and has a dreamy feel about as the strings cascade into the song.
Shelf Life is a great return to the fore from Ollie West & The Wildflowers, an engaging melody, about a difficult subject, but in the end leaving us with the hope that everything will get better.
The guys are a new discovery to me and leave me diving into their back catalogue to see what other gems I may have missed out on, I would urge you to do the same !
Give Shelf Life a stream now:
https://open.spotify.com/album/5JOO3o7PRVq9XHwc9RrkKD?si=9TnArYzzSxS8nNn4yJZ5TQ
Ollie West & The Wildflowers can be followed on their Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Spotify pages:
https://www.facebook.com/olliewestmusic
https://instagram.com/olliewestmusic?igshid=1dq7z2bmmwby3
https://twitter.com/itsolliewest?s=21
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6l4YcEb9vwWsZmao5pCL2c?si=KXj4ClhOSHWSmDT82DdCSA
