Hey everybody, Giggens here, and it's my absolute honor today to chat about the now third and final album by Athens, Georgia Elephant 6 Collective group, the Olivia Tremor Control.

Their last album here, The Same Place.

This record has been in the works for a very long time well over a couple decades. It's their first album since the compilation that came out in 2000 and their first official studio album since Black Foliage.

If you're not familiar with Olivia Tremor Control or the Elephant 6 Collective, they were a group of individuals who worked together, were on each other's albums, and made some of the most incredible psychedelic pop of the 90s and early 2000s. Some notable bands were The Apples In Stereo, of Montreal, The Gerbils, Neutral Milk Hotel; the list goes on and on.

They lived together, they played together, they just loved 60s pop rock. So everything from The Beatles to The Zombies to The Kinks, those were the biggest inspirations, and when you combine that with, like, the lo-fi recording technology they had at the time, recording in each other's houses, you get this homespun, raw, organic, intimate feel.

With Olivia Tremor Control, the band started actually in the late 80s under a couple different names as it went along, but Will Cullen Hart and Jeff Mangum, who went on to do Neutral Milk Hotel, started the group together. When Bill Doss joined the band, they did change their name, eventually finding Olivia Tremor Control, and that's when Jeff left to do Neutral Milk Hotel, and the guys went on and did an incredible debut album. After two critically acclaimed albums and fan-loved albums from the late 90s, the band decided to split for a while because things were getting pretty heated between Will and Bill.

During that initial split, the guys went off and did a couple of solo projects and eventually found their way back to each other with some live shows. In 2009, 10, 11, and early 12, they did get back together and play shows and work on this third album, which is what you hear now, but sadly Bill Doss passed away in 2012.

So unfortunately that put a stop to things for sure, and by 2024, after more projects had been coming out with Will, Olivia Tremor Control was back. Two new singles came out, and on that same November day Will passed away. So the record was left maybe a little unfinished but we're not really sure but we're not really sure of the status of it but it was assembled and put together and produced by their E6 friends Derek Almstead, Jason NeSmith and Ron Kwasman.

The album art was a collaboration between Will and Kelly Hart and Bill Doss, and it's a combination of their first two records to make this new one.

As is tradition with Olivia Tremor Control albums, it's 27 songs long. Interestingly enough, this new record comes exactly 27 years after their last one.

The album opens with the crashing fuzzy track, "Begin Now!" It's a propulsive rocker with soaring harmonies, excited lead vocals and all the magic little tricks that make an Olivia Tremor Control song so inviting. Lyrically, it's a warm introduction to the LP that it's been, quote, "taking a long, long time, but if you believe in love, it can lift you up."

They haven't lost that time since the last record per se, but you know, in the meantime, they're asking what's been going on since then. "Advice from the Oceans" follows that track up, and I love the wonderful vocal interplay on this one. It sounds a little bit like the verses to "Words" by The Monkees, the way they're kind of tripping over each other, but there's some great piano hammering, some tight cymbal work, and really peppy drums. It's a little moody, it's a little searching, and overall feels like you're gonna encounter hardships in your life and you're literally looking for that sunshine, that sunrise, that cresting wave.

"Timewaster" is an excellent follow-up, and I love the punchy buoyant horns on this one. The great vocal sing-along chorus and that magnetic melody that just lives in your head. There's some really cool imagery on this one too. I love that cosmic clay and a cosmic play line. It's like, you know, we're all kind of made up to build ourselves into something, and how we kind of bend ourselves and shape ourselves as we grow up and figure out where we are in the world.

"The Spinning Continuous" opens up with a really cool metallic jam before finding its footing with some really crisp snare drum hits, and it falls into a very Byrds-esque jangle pop guitar. It's pretty spacey, and lyrically I feel like that matches really well because it's kind of like we're just spinning around constantly. Sometimes you just don't take enough time to pause and look around.

"The Same Old Place" is very cozy psychedelic, if you will. There are cool sound effects; there are heavily reverbed tambourines and an overall feeling of glowing optimism. There's a line that goes, "You can get anywhere from somewhere," and that reminds me a lot lyrically of the inspiration that George Harrison had for "Any Road." You know, if you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there. And it's also a song about not beating yourself up because what good does that do?

Throughout the next handful of tracks, you get some excellent fuzzy moments, great melody lines, and catchy vocals. "We Captured A Frame" has this chugging rhythm that reminds me of "She's Got Balls" by AC/DC.

"Meeting Ourselves" sounds like a Coquelicot era of Montreal hanging out with the White Album by the Beatles. "Halfway Down" is an upbeat and cheery song with happily strummed acoustic guitars, and it sounds like something that would have inspired Beulah back in the day. You know, lyrically, that one's fun. It's about like not wanting to get to an event on time because isn't the journey nice?

"Now Begin" features a really sweet lead vocal from keyboardist Peter Erchick. It's sweet, it's a little sad, and it features some excellent guitar ad-libs, some really syrupy strings, and a soft sort of lumbering percussion with these dreamy cymbals kind of washing over it all. It's a lonely track, and it's one of the more heartbreaking moments on the record because it just cuts right to your core, because maybe these vocals were done after Bill and Will had passed away, or maybe at least after Bill had been gone; we don't know. But there's a definite poignancy to this song. It's about trying to reach out to somebody who's not there and hoping the news can reach them, hoping the light inside them can reach them. It's just, it sounds like a love letter to someone who's not here anymore.

"California Demise 4" sounds like metal-era Pink Floyd. It's a good acoustic jammer, and that leads us into "Path of the Parallels" parts 1 through 7. Kind of the center point of the album, if you will, this series of songs connects together, and it gives you an idea of how we get through life. Lyrically, it's like we're just on parallel lines together. We're all kind of riding that Disney ride, and you're seeing all the animatronics do their thing. We're all going through the motions and seeing the things that we expect to see throughout life.

And no matter how you try to get off, you're going to be on this ride together. You might be sitting next to each other; maybe you have your own thoughts about things, but we're on the same ride together. The pacing on these tracks is patient and sometimes a little slow, but it takes its time, and it grows, and it breathes, and there's some really good unconventional playing of the instruments. There's xylophones, there's strings, there's spacey moments. It kind of runs the gamut of psychedelia.

"Leaf" brings us back to the album after the parallel sections there. And I like this one because it just captures that lonely imagery of a leaf kind of floating on the ocean, and it reminds me of the song "'Til I Die" by The Beach Boys. This song feels like it's got no future, it's got no past, you're a little bit stuck, but there's some excellent crashing moments that come through at the end, so it's almost like optimism wants to creep into this depression.

"Garden of Light" was one of the first singles from the record. It's still one of my favorite tracks. It sounds like if The Raspberries were trying to do an Emitt Rhodes song or maybe tackle a Harry Nilsson track. It's rockin', it's sweet, it's endearing. Excellent harmonies, and lyrically it feels like it's about looking over your shoulder and knowing there might be something bad back there, but like, don't let that get in the way of where you're going. Being aware of the negative aspects of life and knowing that sometimes people might be smiling in your face, like Sun House once sang about.

The last couple of tracks here offer some good growly vocals here and there, more great cymbal work, acoustic guitars, some spooky interludes, and then "Impressions Through The Ring" comes up. And this apparently was a Circulatory System song that was played once in 2004. Kinda like a weird indie rock jazz hybrid tune.

And the last track on the album, "Fossil Faun," just delivers some gentle and caring vocals, a joyous marching band chorus. It sounds like there's a harmonium back there and euphoric chimes. The song is calm, but it lets itself have fun and kind of let loose in the choruses. It ends like a gentle hug and a reminder that things can get better and all you gotta do is stay positive. And it's also a little bittersweet because it is such a sweet ending, and knowing that those two guys aren't here anymore, It's sad.

I just want to read a couple of lines from the song itself.

Oh little wonder
Don't ever leave here
This is the place where you belong
And don't you worry about tomorrow
We will sing the sweeter song

Cranes are calling, feathered companions
To believe it to belong
The ancient waters of the empty hollows
Giving birth to Fossil Faun

We observe the myths tonight

I can't think of a more fitting ending to a career than that.

And with that, the Olivia Tremor Control is no more. It lives on through the fans and the three incredible studio albums they released. This is a band that's been adored by fans for 30 years now, almost 30 years, and they're gonna keep studying the lyrics, they're gonna keep telling their friends about them, they're gonna keep giving them their records as presents because their music is really deep and complex and there's a lot to dig into.

As for anything like critical to say about the record, it is long, but that's the case with all of their records. You take them in pieces and kind of go at it in sections. And as far as the final direction of the record, maybe we're close to knowing what it was because maybe it was finished by Will in 2024, and maybe before he sadly passed away, he gave some direction to his producer friends to kind of wrap it up and get it out there. We don't know. There's not a lot of information there, as is the case with most Elephant 6 records. We just don't know. That's the mystery of the E6 Collective.

And while it is super long, thankfully the songs have the momentum to carry it through. That being said, I'm feeling a strong 8 on this record.

Giggens. Olivia Tremor Control. The Same Place. Forever.