I’ve been listening to Oly‘s new EP Shy Passions non-stop for weeks. Oly is a first-generation Mexican-American musician and artist based in Miami who, amongst many other things, also co-founded a record label, Public Works. Her 5 song EP came out on Public Works in December and I LOVE IT SO MUCH.
You should buy and listen to the entire EP, but for a single song selection I chose “Cottonwood.” Oly said that it was written during the Kavanaugh hearings and you can hear it in lyrics like “you can’t correct, you can’t ignore, you can’t even the score”, and in the spoken word intro, which made my brain immediately go to the Shangri-La’s and teenage tragedy songs. Bubblegum pop this is not (not that there’s anything wrong with bubblegum pop!). This is dreamy, dark, hazy, synthy pop that (in the best possible way) makes me feel like I’m listening from the bottom of a dirty pool.
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