Oliver Mann
Oliver Mann Sings
Independent


On the cover of 'Oliver Mann Sings' the 'o' in 'Oliver' is obscured by its namesake's forest-shirted arm. The song titles sit beneath while Mann himself looks like a colour-shifted Warholian creation, a row of hand-drawn notes spilling from his mouth. The peculiar cover is but the beginning.

Mann, younger brother of Grand Salvo nee Paddy Mann, is a classically-trained vocalist and possessor of a massive bass baritone. 'Oliver Mann Sings' is nine songs that not only showcase Mann's formidable vocal talent, but his skill as arranger. In the opening minute of the album Mann overdubs his own voice on A Book before deftly dropping the clones to leave the original voice free to devour the air. Further along, Mann joins spoken-word vignettes, mini-operas and chalky acoustic guitar hymnals, his attention to detail captured by a glowing stereo mix.

In just over five minutes, Swan-Singing melds caricatured storytelling, rounds of guitars and mandolin, radio noise, triple soprano voices and clarinets-as-swans. Ms. Yooo sees Mann sing over glockenspiel and distant wind swells before a singing saw comes and goes like a ghost. Even with the avant-garde and compositional elements, 'Oliver Mann Sings' is at its heart a very accessible collection. Herringbone Blues is like the natural-world storytelling practiced by his brother Paddy. But it is the centrepiece Shoe Of Leather that leaves the biggest impression, a seven-minute mountain of soaring vibrato and soul-shattering atmosphere. When twin clarinets edge up next to Mann's desperately strummed guitar and booming voice, the clarity is overwhelming.

Lenin Simos