By Izzy Schmidt
Photo by Izzy Schmidt
Awkwardly slow, pushy, pointless, and repetitive. Some of today’s music is just that. New songs storm iTunes and music listening sites with absolutely no purpose other than to earn artists money to pay their bills. That’s not the case for one Hugh Oliver of London, who burst into his musical career, wholeheartedly, at age 82.
In 2012, Oliver released his first album of songs and small poems titled “…And All That Crap,” featuring 27 short tracks under four minutes. Despite the typical meaningless beat thumping, the majority of Oliver’s tunes have one purpose, to share his opinion.
Songs like “Harry Potter,” “Awful Lot of Sunshine,” and “Justin Bieber,” clearly state Oliver’s views on negative people, almost comforting the audience with the reassurance that most of your problems and obsessions now are petty and there are plenty of other worth-while things to enjoy. A featured short poem, “Fame,” about the little impact that people have unless you make your life something to remember, is tear-jerking.
The twangy sound of “Will My Lady Love Me” is intriguing and entertaining, using mild curse words and complete exaggerations, for humorous effect. Through the short song, “Kill,” Oliver tells a light-hearted tale of shooting dumb people around his town. Despite the negativity that reeks from that description, it’s a funny little story with a catchy beat. If you don’t pay very close attention to the lyrics, you’d tap your foot and jam out to this track without a second thought.
Oliver begins his song-process by writing meaningful poetry and then simply adding a catchy beat. He has a few gigs every month, plays a couple of sets at the Tranzac, a musical venue in Toronto for up-and-coming artists to perform live, performs in a jazz band, and sings a duet once a month.
Loyal fans hope to share Oliver’s songs to a younger music-listening audience for inspiration to follow their dream, no matter what. By sharing his opinion, Oliver touches the listeners to follow their dreams because he did…and he’s an octogenarian.
Involved in social media websites like Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other music-sharing sites, Oliver and his supervisor/producer, Marco De Felice, hope to reach an even wider audience. 6/10 stars
