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Oliver Future
The Bear Chronicles, Vol. II\r\n(Self-released)
By Caroline Collier
After appearing last year on the soundtrack to MTV’s wildly popular reality tv series The Real World, Austin-based alt-rockers Oliver Future saw an opportunity, duly packed up their gear, and hightailed it to Los Angeles. Now hyped as a “buzz band,” Ollie is shaking hands and kissing babies all over the Left Coast, and a touch of glam has rubbed off on The Bear Chronicles, Vol. II, the quintet’s new e.p.
Also included here is a lot of bold riffage, inventive beats, and quite a bit of sly commentary. On opener “What Heart?,” frontman Noah Lit could be explaining his and his bandmates’ decision to leave Texas, when he sings, “This is the life we have chosen for ourselves.” Similarly, the rocker “Bukowski Bar” (peripherally, in homage to legendary ‘50s-era blue-collar poet, Charles) could be a sonic postcard. As blistering guitar clangs over thumping bass and the perfect beatsmithery of Fort Worth’s own Jordan Richardson, Lit goes in for the kill without reservation: “They all know I want you,” he sings in his cranky, tilted voice. “The signs are everywhere, and you don’t know or you don’t care.”
The move west is clearly paying dividends. Not only is Bear Chronicles a good portent of things to come, but former First Street Audio producer and homeboy Richardson is making an impression: He contributed some stickwork to a portion of folk-rock hero Ben Harper’s new album, Both Sides of the Gun. Look for a full-length from Ollie in the next few months.
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