Oliver Tank

He's the man they're calling Australia's answer to James Blake. Oliver Tank had the blogosphere in a tailspin earlier this year thanks to his otherworldly tune 'Last Night I Heard Everything In Slow Motion'. Now he's followed it up with a debut EP, Dreams, which channels electronic music pioneers like Boards Of Canada, Jon Hopkins and, of course, James Blake.

In October Oliver travelled to Iceland to play the Airwaves Festival, sharing a bill with the likes of Bjork, Yoko One and tUnE-yArDs. Expect to see this young electronic whiz playing a lot more shows near you next year. - Triple J

We needed to follow yesterday’s track with something really special. I think we found it. Today’s track, Last Night I Saw Everything in Slow Motion comes from Australian, Oliver Tank.

Oliver creates blissfully sparse electronica. Think James Blake remixing a Postal Service track and you’re halfway there. But with the addition of the string samples and the delicate vocal this is more beautiful than Postal Service, and is infinitely more interesting than James Blake.

Also, we’re adding Oliver Tank to the list of people allowed to use autotune because they make it sound lush. So far the list looks like this:

Bon Iver
Oliver Tank - Amazing Tunes

You know there’s hype about a new kid on the block when OAF is packed out with a high proportion of guestlisters at 8pm on a Sunday, for the first support. I wasn’t surprised though – Oliver Tank’s brand of sweet, simple chillwave is right on time. Occasional bursts of ‘80s-style guitar licks made an interesting counterpoint to the layers of dreamy synth melodies and minimal electronic percussion, but could have been incorporated a little better to feel like less of an afterthought. There were moments when it seemed Tank could use a second pair of hands up there – but for someone who has shot into public consciousness off the back of a couple of bedroom singles, he did extraordinarily well to keep the audience engaged. - The Brag

Oliver Tank is a 21-year-old downtempo electronica artist from Sydney who released a gorgeous six-song debut EP called Dreams in November. There are already cries of Tank being "the next James Blake," but the differences outweigh the similarities. Tank holds the advantage on melody right now, and his arrangements may have deeper colors to them. That said, if you're fan of Blake, Oliver Tank's Dreams will likely be sweet ones. - NPR.org

Sydney local Oliver Tank has quietly gone about making a name for himself over the last year or so; not just here but across the globe. At only 22 that’s quite impressive. National Public Radio in the US recently chose Tank as one of the top 5 BandCamp albums of 2011. Listening to his first EP Dreams, it’s pretty clear why they did.
Despite its minimal spacey sound, the EP has a languid warmth to it; an intimate familiarity. Opener “Up All Night” has a comfortable stillness, like walking down quiet streets on a summer night. The addition of female vocals (from Fawn Myers) to two tracks adds a nice dynamic, particularly on “Embrace”. “Last Night I Heard Everything in Slow Motion” is Tank at his best: sweetly melancholic yet uplifting.
This kind of electronic ambient pop (think a more subtle James Blake) requires a very deft touch which Tank has. A simple string flourish or an electronic warble in his voice is often all that’s needed to colour his songs. Flecks of percussion sit amongst vocal washes and airy synth. The production quality is absolutely amazing and a reflection of Tank’s talent.
Try to not let the accolades raise your expectations too high. It took me three listens to really appreciate this recording. There’s a lack of melody which will potentially put some off – it did me initially – and the last two tracks possibly lack the clever imagination of the preceding ones, but sit down and give Dreams a proper listen and I promise you you’ll be smitten.
Review Score: 8.6 out of 10 - The AU Review

With the crowd swarming with anticipation and slowly shuffling towards the stage, Oliver Tank opened with a new track (that has just been dropped on SoundCloud) titled Past, Present, Future. With his guitar in hand, Tank combined a scattering of electronic sounds and slow looped bass lines with the lyrics “All I do is dream; dream of you” vocally soaring over the top. The end result was a familiar spacious yet warm dream-wave sound for which Mr. Tank is renowned.


He then smoothly transitioned into the Massive Attack influenced EP track Embrace. With the recorded voice of Fawn Meyers swirling behind his heavily reverbed vocals, the light sparse electronic and guitar sounds he delivered produced another atmospheric and haunting performance. Avoiding the cliché straight from record performance, he delighted the crowd with his impressive and well-known cover of Snoop Dogg’s Beautiful.


Showcasing his variety and innovation, Tank then performed a surprising version of Up All Night that delicately combined the powerful lyrics of Manchester Orchestra’s I Can feel a Hot One in the bridge of the song.


He closed his frustratingly short 35-minute set with Last Night I Heard Everything in Slow Motion, the ambient and dynamic track being the highlight of his set. The warm flourish of strings supporting the auto-tuned vocal and subtle synths culminated and built into an uplifting and resonant ending. - http://aaabackstage.com/news/reviews/1734-oliver-tank--february-3rd-the-bridge-club-brisbane.html

Despite some awkward dancing, he sounds terrific. Wearing a chunky set of black headphones worthy of a DJ, he’s clearly producing as he’s playing - the soothing alto of his voice sliding through the folds of his polished electronics. Using drum pads, keys, samples, a loop pedal (of course) and live guitar to achieve the blissed out mix he labels ‘dreamwave.’ He’s careful not to overwhelm the warm embrace of his lush beats with unnecessary flourishes, there’s just the right amount of treatment to his voice and even his shimmering guitar is understated.

His music, despite its mechanical construction, possesses a tenderness. It’s obviously enhanced by his simple, gentle lyrics. Up All Night, with its comforting refrain of ‘will you teach me how to dance/real slow,” is like a digital lullaby, while the glitch-pop of I Love You caresses with its deep reverberating bass and restrained click track. It’s at this point that many would be swift to make the ‘Sydney’s answer to James Blake’ comparison (like the lass in front of me who 'checked in' on facebook with this exact phrase). A cut like I Can’t Sleep however, hints his influences may be closer to M83 – complete with the sparingly effective use of guitar shredding, big echoing drum fills and even an obscure spoken-word sample that could have come straight from Saturdays = Youth. Thankfully he’s no more an imitator of Anthony Gonzales’ emotionally-charged electro as he is Blake’s post-dubstep troubadour stylings. Tank has quickly asserted his own methods and sonic voice, while reminiscent of others, its clearly distinctive in its own right. More-so in the live setting, where the ambience of the room allow the space and atmosphere of his dreamy tunes to really breath.

The set also included his spaced-out rendition of Snoop Dogg’s Beautiful. Though its booming rhythms and washes of synth are still lovely, with its awkward semi-rapping (and touchy use of the ‘n’ word), it’s a novelty that Tank can afford to put him behind him now he has a consistently strong set of originals. The other major criticism of the evening is that his set is criminally short. At about half-an-hour, and especially considering it was the launch for said EP, only about half of Dreams was on display. Shorn of an encore, he leaves the crowd baying for more. Not before delivering the rousing track that has propelled him into the spotlight. Last Night I Heard Everything In Slow Motion, segueing from the caressing I Love You , remains the conflation of Tank’s appeal. With subtle auto-tune on his affable voice, it glides towards its climax of delicate string swells, replicated with samples and guitar washes.

Even with a brief six-song setlist that perhaps prioritised quality over quantity, Tank’s position as an emerging talent is crystal-clear. Able to capture the warmth and clarity of his music in the live setting, it won’t be long before he’s playing larger venues with, hopefully, longer running times. - Al's Music Rant

Before the main set had even started, the intimate surroundings of The Workers Club were almost bursting with a sold out crowd. He strolls out onto stage, flashing the crowd a giant smile, already winning the hearts of every female in the room. This guy is seriously gorgeous. Opening with the melodic and patterned noise of Past Present Future Tank grabbed the whole room convincingly. This slow and subtle sound really took me off guard. This style is almost hypnotic, with the short bursts of vocals awakening you each time from the trance. The vocals really built throughout the song, demanding attention and highlighting his manifest talent. In its live incarnation, the use of violin adds flavour and intensifies this song, taking it to another level.

The solid introduction of a heavy guitar is much more present in the live version of Embrace, where in the recordings it is almost overshadowed. This really kicked the song into gear changing up the sonic palette of previous songs. The pre-recorded backings fitted perfectly, too. Even though this song was originally sung with Fawn Myers, it was still very effective with Tank alone. Embrace was also the prime vehicle for Tank to show off his vocal range.

Tank appears to have a deeply seated hip-hop passion, which was most evident in his incredible re-make of Snoop Dogg’s Beautiful where Tank seemed to physically inhabit the borders of the song. This cover was an absolute highlight; game, set and match. Both sexy and playful, Tank’s take on the song made you forget who Snoop Dogg even was.

No matter where you were standing in the fan-filled throng, the beginning of Last Night I Heard Everything in Slow Motion was likely to catch you off guard. The rhythmic and sultry sounds circled and mesmerised the crowd, drawing into your breath and pulling you closer. Tank’s stage presence was amazing, with all eyes in the room focused solely upon him. For this genre and as a solo artist, it was incredible how he can hold attention with very little effort.

The similarities between each song made it easy to transition between the tunes, creating little down time in the performance. Tank’s performance was completely captivating. His natural talent astounded me and it was hard to believe that he is such a new performer. As Oliver Tank said his thank-yous, I looked at the time and couldn’t believe how late it was, as if I was engulfed in a time warp throughout his performance. He really is an act not to be missed and will definitely be an artist to watch over the next few months. - Faster Louder