In the spiky and seductive track, "Anicca", Olive Yaah lyrically works through the power dynamics of a toxic relationship. Her vocals shift between a bitter stream of consciousness and sweet vulnerability, balanced by polyrhythmic Boom Bap layered with sitar and eclectic keyboards. By referencing meditation, the track suggests the transcendence of suffering through mental strength and resilience. The term ‘Anicca’ describes the Buddhist concept of impermanence. "Anicca" is a reminder that like all things, imbalances of power will eventually change.

This track is the first single of Olive Yaah's upcoming album "Luz del Abyss" which will be released in May 2023.

----------------------------------------------------
Written, recorded and produced by Olive Yaah
Vocals, keyboards and synthesizers - Olive Yaah
Drums - Myka Wallace
Bass - Matthew Hayes
Sitar - Kumar Shome
Mixed by Nick Herrera
Mastered by Good Mood Melbourne
Cover artwork by Olive Yaah
Shot of Olive Yaah in the Cover Artwork by Jivan Simons Mistry
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Recorded and produced on the stolen land of the Wurundjeri people.
Sovereignty was never ceded. We pay respects to elders past, present and emerging. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

Anicca

Olive Yaah gifts us with her new album “Luz del Abyss”, cross-linguistically referring to one of the many names of the Wild Woman Archetype (Spanish: luz del abismo, English: light of the abyss), which represents the knowing of the soul.

This album is dedicated to the transformative power of grief during cycles of life, death and rebirth.

Calling for a change, Olive Yaah relocated from Berlin to Naarm (Melbourne) in 2018 for the sake of surrendering to the Funk and Soul of the local music scene. In order to extend her visa and have time to make “Luz del Abyss” there, she absolved eight months of farm work in remote areas of so-called Australia. That time period turned out to be an important reset for her - she discovered and heavily practiced Vipassana meditation which helped her process personal hardships she experienced since leaving Berlin. Equipped with nothing but a Roland SP404 Sampler and a Casio Keyboard, she wove those cathartic experiences into new songs in the evenings while witnessing Australian agriculture's relationship with capitalism and climate change during the day. Back in Melbourne, she teamed up with local talent (Matthew Hayes, Myka Wallace, Erica Tucceri, Kumar Shome, Esther Henderson, Zoë Barry) to record those songs in a DIY studio. When COVID-19 hit, she managed to stay in the country and produced the album in isolation by herself despite an injury on both hands. Grammy nominated engineer and producer Nick Herrera (Hiatus Kaiyote, Jaala, 30/70) assisted her in the final production process and mixed the record.

Laid out as a lo-fi collage fusioning Jazz, Hip Hop, Soul, Vaporwave and Experimental, the 12-track-album is a stepping stone in Olive Yaah’s musical journey since her move to Melbourne. She embeds her magnetic and vulnerable voice in a keyplay that draws on Jazz and impressionist composers. Performing both solo and with a band, her polyrhythmic song arrangements invite heavy interplay with her rhythm section while sampler beats and pianistic and vocal landscapes provide a world of their own. 
credits
releases May 5, 2023

Written and produced by Olive Yaah
Vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, samples - Olive Yaah
Drums - Myka Wallace
Bass - Matthew Hayes
Flute - Erica Tucceri (on Abyss, Abyss (Deeper), Slowly Unwrap)
Violin - Esther Henderson (on Slowly Unwrap)
Viola - Zoë Barry (on Slowly Unwrap)
Sitar - Kumar Shome (on Anicca)
ARP 2600 Synthesizer - Sam Stosuur (on D*M*T Afterlude)
Mixed by Nick Herrera
Mastered by Good Mood Melbourne

This album was recorded and produced on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri, the Bunurong and the Gumbaynggirr people. We are paying our respect to elders both past and present. Sovereignty was never ceded. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

Olive Yaah

Popular tracks