Music > Album Reviews

Olympia - Flamingo

04/07/19

In her self-described ode to ‘unfiltered emotions and thoughts’, Olympia returns with a bright and buzzy collection of songs seeking to tell a story with mixed results.

Olympia’s debut Self Talk made a considerable impression across her native Australia, where she received nominations for the prestigious ARIA Award Breakthrough artist (former nominees include Tame Impala, Flume and Courtney Barnett). With Flamingo, there is the sense that the artist seeks to build this homegrown success into something greater. Two year’s worth of touring her debut and developing concepts for her second album have lead to this: a sentimental snapshot of a moment, or rather, several moments that meld and mismatch in equal succession. 

Olympia has asserted that the album is a throwback to her ‘love of albums having a narrative arc’. At it’s best, the album offers moments dripping in nostalgia, but this often feels inconsistent in it’s desired effect.

Upon first listen, it is easy to dismiss Olympia’s second release as pop music with the heaviest emphasis on guitars you might have heard in the past half-decade. According to the artist herself I am sorely mistaken with this first impression, for past interviews have seen her express frustration with being perceived at fitting into the conventions of either ‘indie’ or ‘pop’.  Later on in the listening experience and it’s clear that Olympia, real name Olivia Jayne Bartley, might have a point. The guitars and synthesisers serve as a complementary element to Bartley’s vocal’s, rather than the core of each song. 

At it’s best, the highs and lows of Flamingo conjure sentimentality in ways combining the best parts of indie and pop know best. Opening on an incredibly strong note with an overwrought lead single, Star City makes for massive-sounding start that could easily soundtrack the climax of your favourite coming-of-age film.

That said, the talk of cities, postcards and memories can sometimes wear a little thin, with the latter half of the album falling flat in places.  Punchier cuts such as First You Leave and Shoot To Forget salvage this, which strike the balance of crunchy guitars and dream-like vocal harmonies. In contrast to this, songs such as the album’s title track appear to be forgettable.

Flamingo is capable of creating a series of interesting, dreamy moments, but the album requires more tonal variation to completely realise Bartley’s image of a cohesive narrative arc. The building blocks are present, but it is clear there is potential for her to do much more.