During the instrumental bridge of Josie Oliver’s Do You Really Have to Go, a voice message can be heard, picking up the words “listen to this when you buy a house”. Aware of the insight she can dispense to her older self, Oliver uses the past, present and future to navigate the seas of young love on her debut EP, with eloquent songwriting and a voice that commands no matter the anguish.
And you don’t have to be a homeowner yourself to appreciate Josie Oliver’s hindsight, buckling at the knees on the aforementioned closing track in an attempt to force the best out of a partner, all out of one’s hopeless commitment. Old, grunting folk strums, with a rocking horse rhythm, are juxtaposed by Oliver’s fresh-faced yearning, the latter a source of vast tangibility throughout the EP’s delicate run.
The songs of Listen to This When You a Buy a House don’t simply contain intensity and heart; they feed off of these elements like life sources. A lil’ heartland-y kick is the life source of Wake Up (I Love You), which is as resonantly passionate about appreciating the sheer joy of mutual love as Standstill is as about capturing the fragmentations of a relationship in its final stages; Oliver’s voice is dreamily multi-tracked, but each voice is at odds with each other; a howling, sighing disconnect.
And to think, Oliver is simply airing her emotions, regardless of what those emotions are. “I hate wasting precious time”, she sings with a magical huff on Standing at Our Grave, a self-aware derailing of her lovey callowness, sickened by an inability to live in the moment, waiting for the death of everything – “I know one day we’ll break”. But she continues singing with the utmost charm in her heart; her inner triumph that similarly sparkles on Single Bed, cruising and travelling as if to capture its theme of long distance relationships.
There is no shortage of independent singer-songwriters tackling themes of dealing with lovesickness in early adulthood, but Josie Oliver is a vital voice. Listen to This When You a Buy a House showcases the multiple ways in which her mind works, balancing a modest musical flexibility with mature assessments of one’s own well-being.
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