Ollo – The If If (Groovescooter/Vitamin)

The palindromically titled pair behind Sydney group Ollo have finally released a follow up to their 2002 debut Sleeper. That album was a shifting instrumental soundscape generally influenced by producers like Matthew Herbert. But things change. Two years ago, they recorded a cover of Fun Boy Three’ The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum) with Alex Crowfoot singing. It was the first suggestion Ollo would (or could) make a leap sideways, and up, to pop, albeit off-kilter pop. The reaction to that song encouraged Alex to step out into the anti-gravity of writing his own songs, and singing them. His vulnerability is there in every lyric on this new album, in the restraint of his delivery, mouth right up near the microphone, his whispering voice spread across the speaker output. That’s how the album starts, with the awkward insights of Trouble Is: “I really should eat more bananas and get more exercise / fend off this downward spiral.” That vignette leads into Shaky Flaky, a tough drum break and organ-led Krautrock groove touched by Alex’ relationship with Sydney band Tooth. A minute or two in and Alex starts singing, “Wakey wakey / hands off snakey,” sounding just like Jarvis Cocker singing over a Barry Adamson number. The If If is an ambitious album. It doesn’ always work, for example, Inga Liljestrom’ vocal histrionics seem outrageously out of place on Gordian Knotted. But at almost an hour, including hidden tracks, the album focusses on Ollo’s intimate and affecting songs, rather than the guests, making Alex’s decision to bare his soul more sound investment than risky gamble.