Ollella’s career as a musician started early when she sang before she could talk. Trained as a classical cellist since the age of nine, the Seattle indie-folk musician merges her technical background with authoritative vocals, live-looping, and improvisation. Described as “really outstanding” by NPR Music’s Bob Boilen and “so tastefully done” by Michelle Zauner (AKA Japanese Breakfast), Ollella blends the acoustic with the contemporary, folk with pop, and tenacity with softness, pulling on influences such as Feist, Cat Power, and Jesca Hoop. Her playing has been featured in films screened at Film Festivals such as Sundance and Aspen Film Fest, on recordings with others, including Grammy-winning artist Peter Kater, and has shared the stage with popular Americana acts such as the Shook Twins and Rising Appalachia. She finds herself drawn to music because it unlocks a particularly organic flavor of humanity – one that fits the type of world she believes in.
Sonically, “Head in the Clouds” (below) will pull your attention in from the opening-clipped harmonizing vocals in each ear. With her new single Ollella shows some creative use of influences from powerful female-lead rock bands like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs to a real jazz-tinged cello line that enters in the latter half of the song. There’s a subtlety to the production that really lets the song shine through while also pulling a lot of weight in accenting its best elements. The chaos of many looped layers along with the infectious tom-heavy beat consistent through the whole song really creates a pinnacle moment just before dropping off that will likely leave you searching for more Ollella in the near future.
“As someone who grew up playing classical cello but listening to indie music, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what direction I want to take my music as a new solo artist. I wrote Head in the Clouds during a particularly exploratory period, playing with different effects on my loop pedal and not attaching judgment to what came out. The bones of this song immediately felt so genuine to the type of sound that I was seeking – so much so that I left it untouched for six months because I was afraid I would ruin it,” says Ollella.
