Ollie Twohill – Hollow

We’ve reviewed Australia’s, Ollie Twohill, a couple of times previously. Both “Silk Dress” and “Neverland” were spectacular indie/skater rock tracks with an authentic 90s feel. He’s back in our ears at the Send Me Your Ears studio today with his latest track, Hollow, and we’re thoroughly impressed once again. Hollow is released today. November 16, 2022.

Hollow was inspired by an abrupt relationship break-up. Twohill says that he was completely shocked and blindsided even though it was an amicable split. As with all good songwriters, Twohill has taken this as inspiration and created a beautiful singer-songwriter/indie rock track.

Twohill really shows a gentler side to his songwriting with this track. Starting on acoustic guitar with a little drums and some fabulous melodic bass, you could be fooled into thinking this is going to be a folky singer-songwriter track.

As the song progresses though, Twohill starts to show us the artist that we’ve come to know and love. The layered vocals sit beautifully and the addition of harmonies and extra vocals in the second verse help maintain interest easily.

The stops in this track are extremely effective. Building and releasing tension – especially noticeable in the section with just heavily reverbed distant vocal. The dynamic soundscape of this track is exciting, and Twohill keeps you on your toes with some very effective rise and fall.

The dreamy electric guitar solo is classy. It’s simple but effective and the shimmering cymbals and synths in the breakdown are just gorgeous. Building back at the end of the breakdown, we were reminded a little of British band, It Bites, of whom we are huge fans!

As always, Ollie Twohill has created a track that has impressed us beyond our expectations. The songwriting and arrangement of the track has clearly been well-considered to ensure that the listener is enthralled every step of the way.

Ollie performs live as a solo act but brings in siblings Blair (Drums) and Lawson (Bass) Hamilton for recordings. Ollie’s songwriting is proficient enough that we can easily see these tracks standing up well with both the full band sound (as they are here), or as an acoustic solo act. The mark of a great song.

Once again, Ollie Twohill has produced a stunning track with a great balance of frequencies along with clarity right across the audio spectrum.

An immensely talented and versatile musician, big things beckon for Australia’s Ollie Twohill and we can’t wait to watch them happen.