“Let Me Down” by Ollebirde – A Song Review

    “Let Me Down” has international reaches. The percussion gives the impression that Øllebirde has South African influences. The single begins with an uncomplicated yet affective three-note guitar hook and turns into an Electro Pop gem. Still, the percussion and vocals drive the track. Øllebirde is based in Paris, although the trio was formed in London. Fabrice Ordioni and Jeremy White started as a duo, but Margot Kurtis joined after performing with them at a jam session in Camden Town, London.

     Based on the strength of “Let Me Down,” the international reach will soon extend more powerfully into the United States. Lyrically, the song is about a halted relationship – “You let me down.” In contrast, the melody creates a sense of determined forward movement, at least after the first 30 seconds. Margot Kurtis has a vocal power that compliments the strengths of the instruments.

     Unfortunately, the video of “Let Me Down” is currently unavailable in the U.S. (the YouTube site states, “The uploader has not made this video available in your country.”). When it is activated, we will add it to this post. For now, we are adding “Trouble,” an Øllebirde song we featured in 2016.

     “Let Me Down” by Øllebirde 

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Digital Stream/Purchase: https://ollebirde.lnk.to/YLMD

     “Trouble” by Øllebirde 


     Quoted from the bio of Øllebirde:

  When [Fabrice and Jeremy] met, one wanted to improve on the guitar, the other gave lessons. The teacher and the student quickly gave up scales and lessons to create together a music of their own. Models, trial and error, cordial agreement. Only one piece was missing in this artistic puzzle. It is Margot who will bring this supplement of soul and voice: student in law, between song and piano she thinks only music since her childhood. The merger is obvious, the instant complicity. One sings, the other also, the third arranges, all play and compose. Refugees in the countryside for a weekend, they are already at the head of several songs. Follow concerts and tours between Paris and Brussels, composed and repeated, sometimes in the first part of more confirmed artists. And, finally, the recording of this first EP, precursor of an upcoming album.

  Not easy to describe in words the music of Øllebirde. No more than with references, even if their influences range from Nirvana to London Grammar, Bowie, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nada Surf or The National. A resolutely Anglo-Saxon inspiration, illustrated by the choice of the language in which they express themselves. When asked to put a name on their music, they talk about "Melancholic Pop". It's true, but much more than that. Moving and aerial ballads that mix electronics and acoustics, flights of ropes and guitar riffs, sometimes enhanced by relentless rhythms. Like "You Let Me Down", the first hypnotic single composed almost by accident and that highlights the exceptional voice of Margot, as ardent as sensual, as delicate as acrobatic.