Plus

PLUS started in Oliver's bedroom in Mainz, Germany. Songs were written and then recorded with the help of a few friends, playing drums, bass, synthesizers, trumpet, lapsteel and other shiny things, even his mother's string quartet got involved at some point. In May 2007 "Is it or is it not going to melt?" was released, a live-band formed and PLUS joined the Knertz Collective (www.knertz.de). By now the second edition of this record is sold out.

At the end of 2009 the second album was supposed to be released, but after listening to the master tracks and taking a walk Oliver decided not to. Instead there was more recording, songs were changed or exchanged until there was not much left and an entire new collection of songs came out of that chaos."Rubberneck" is to be released in 2012 and PLUS is currently looking for a label to do so. The 12 songs focus on the unusual lyrics and again feature a wide variety instruments and interesting arrangements. They were recorded at home, in rehearsal rooms, hallways and in three different professional studios. If you would like to receive more information or demos please email us: hello@inthebellyofawhale.com

During all this PLUS toured a bit and played a lot of shows with artists like Oskar Ohlson, Babel Fishh, Bizzart, Get Well Soon, Gisbert zu Knyphausen, Ghost of Tom Joad, Wallis Bird, Siva, Lichter, Like a Stuntman, The Black Atlantic, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Josiah & Liz Wolf (Why?), Dosh (Anticon) and Future Islands.

On stage PLUS is either a intimate one-man show or a six-piece ensemble:

Oliver Burghardt – songs, guitar, vocals
Anne-Louise Hoffmann – vocals, organ, glockenspiel
Steffen Donsbach – guitar, melodica, toy piano
Martin Born – rhodes, synth, trumpet, clarinet
Benjamin Sickel – bass
Raid Iskandar – drums, percussions