Oli Heffernan seems to never take a holiday, as he’s always putting out music on an epic level. Ivan The Tolerable, King Champion Sounds, and University Challenged just to name a few, Heffernan seems to abhor down time. All the better for us.
I first discovered Oli Heffernan via his Ivan The Tolerable project. In-particular, last year’s White Tears album which he released with Library Of The Occult. Since then I’ve been digging back into his discography with delight. His newest album is with Houseplants, a project he started back in 2016 with singer/lyricist Leighton Crook. Heffernan provides musical accompaniment to Crook’s Mark E. Smith-like post-punk delivery.
On Houseplants sophomore release, simply titled II, Heffernan and Crook add more depth to their sound with the addition of Neil Turpin on live drums and Robbie Major on synths. Single “The Barrows” is all nervy energy and post-punk indifference, but with Heffernan there’s always this element of woozy psychedelia involved. The track sounds like a cross between Lo Fidelity All-Stars, The Beta Band, and The Fall with a heavy lean into dub music on acid. It’s a must for the musical thrill seekers and far out cosmonauts.
Houseplants’ II will be up for preorder tomorrow, 2/4, and will drop on 3/4 via Win Big Records. For those not in the know tomorrow will be a Bandcamp Friday, which means if you preorder the new album all the cash goes to the artists. Seems like the perfect time to preorder an album you’ll most definitely want anyways. So do it. Right here.
Give “The Barrows” a listen below, and get that preorder in tomorrow.
Complex Distractions 