After the dissolution of a 16-year relationship, Scott Oliphant of The Color Study moved out of his house and bought an old vet office, which he turned into a studio. At the time, he was a mess, and didn’t know what to do with himself. Now Scott has emerged with a panoramic self-titled indie-rock album, with is due out June 19th.
The Color Study is a one-man project, and draws on a giant palette of sound and color culled from Scott’s 20 years playing music in Austin and Oregon. Though known primarily as a drummer, guitar is Scott’s first instrument, and he played, recorded and mixed The Color Study album in his Oregon studio, Parkway Sounds. Live, The Color Study is supported by additional musicians, including Matt Jackson on bass and Andy Jacobs on drums.
Scott thoughtfully sequenced the album to make it a peaks and valleys album-oriented experience, and carefully considered all facets of the album, from artwork to overarching lyric concepts. The Color Study has been a transformative experience for Scott on many levels. He stepped forward from behind the drum kit, and he met a painfully complex time head on.
Today Glide is excited to offer an exclusive early listen to the new album. Writing around themes of loss and processing loss, Scott drew from his own moments of darkness to produce an album that is surprising upbeat in a cathartic kind of way. Lyrically, you can hear him facing a moment of reckoning head on and choosing to make the best of it, and each song on the album feels like a release of sorts. Veering from the explosive psychedelic pop of acts like the Flaming Lips and Animal Collective to the blissful, folk-infused indie rock of acts like Wilco with just enough grunge thrown in to remind you this music is from the Pacific Northwest, Scott fearless dabbles in a range of styles throughout the album. It seems like even when he is veering into quieter, more vulnerable moments, he manages to unleash a burst of trippy, symphonic sounds, taking the listener on a wild ride through peaks and valleys. It’s especially cool to see how Scott makes such creative use of different instruments, and it gets you excited to imagine how these songs would sound in the live setting…if we ever get to experience that again.
Scott describes the story and process behind the album:
“A few years ago I found my life turned round following the ending of a 16 year relationship, and I moved out of my old house I’d been living in and into the old vets office I was turning into a recording studio. I’d spent years working with bands in studios in Austin before moving to Oregon and was creating a space to do that here. I’ve always played in bands, often as a drummer, many times as a guitar player, but had never recorded a full album of my own songs. It had always been something I had on my bucket list and living surrounded by recording gear and instruments, coupled with the overwhelming personal sense of loss and grief I was processing, little bits and pieces of songs quickly turned into demos. After 5 or 6 songs, the idea of a full album started to seem like it might be a real possibility and this became my obsession over the next 9 months as I moved instrument to tape machine to instrument putting songs together. Not surprisingly, many of the songs are about loss, and that feeling of directionlessness that can be overwhelming, notes on a future that’s become an unknown.
I spent probably a ridiculous amount of time trying to put together the best ‘Album’ I could in the classic sense of the word. I wanted all the songs to work together. I wanted the songs to flow on the album in a specific way. Basically, I wanted the end product to feel like this complete thought like my favorite albums I’d listened to all my life. I wanted to press it to vinyl and have this thing that felt complete and good and the best thing I could make at the time which gave me some purpose and really kept me from straying too far back into some really unhealthy dark places people are prone to go.
I’ve since put together an incredible band that is doing an amazing job playing the songs live, we were all geared up for record release shows, summer touring etc. I’m excited to get it out into the world, this is the final part of the process for both the record and a part of my life.”
LISTEN:
The Color Study is out June 19th.
Pre-order link:
https://the-color-study.square.site/product/12-vinyl/4?cs=true
Live stream link:
