Photo credit: Erica Salazar
Garage rocker Olivia Jean has released her third solo album Raving Ghost today via Third Man Records. The release is heralded by a new visualizer for album highlight “I Need You,” which is available to watch now at YouTube.
Olivia Jean will embark on an extensive headline U.S. tour tonight at The Blue Room at Third Man Records in Nashville. The upcoming dates include performances in New York City,, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and more, as well as a coveted slot at this weekend’s Shaky Knees Music Festival in Atlanta. See below for the full list of tour dates.
The album has been met with significant acclaim in the run-up to its release. In an extensive feature, Vogue called the album "a heavy/sweet, melodic/garage-y confection that manages to incorporate surf rock, pop, goth, and punk while also being the sort of thing that only Olivia Jean could pull off. American Songwriter said that Olivia Jean is “tough, and talented and attacks her songs with a suggestive swagger that grabs you and won’t let go,” while Exclaim! enthused that "Raving Ghost is here to remind you what a little hard work and a whole lot of dangerous music can do.”
Produced by Olivia Jean at Los Angeles’ famed Valentine Recording Studios and Third Man Recording Studio in her home base of Nashville, Raving Ghost has been met with early excitement from fans and media alike, with the likes of Pitchfork, SPIN, BrooklynVegan and more chiming in at the outset.
Raving Ghost is an album populated by mysterious characters in various states of danger – cursed lovers, doomed souls, women deliriously haunted by unseen forces. Over the course of its 11 spellbinding tracks, Olivia Jean amplifies that drama with her wildly melodic take on garage rock, handling each riff with the power and precision she’s previously shown as a member of the Black Belles and as an in-demand session/touring musician. Featuring backing from such top musicians as My Morning Jacket keyboardist Bo Koster, Jellyfish co-founder Roger Joseph Manning Jr, and drummers Carla Azar (T-Bone Burnett, Nikki Lane) and Patrick Keeler (The Raconteurs, The Afghan Whigs), songs such as the serpentine title track and a frenetic cover of Enya’s classic “Orinoco Flow” stand tall as a feverish collision of goth-punk, power-pop, and classic garage, charged with an energy so intense that the speakers to several of Valentine Recording Studios’ vintage amps ended up blowing out during the sessions. A stunning evolution of the retro-surf sound featured on Olivia Jean’s critically acclaimed past solo work, Raving Ghost ultimately proves the most magnificently heavy and mesmerizing output yet from an endlessly fascinating artist.
Growing up on the outskirts of Detroit, Olivia Jean found her first musical love in 1960’s instrumental surf bands. Taking up guitar at an early age, she soon became enamored by Detroit’s thriving garage rock scene, drawing inspiration from its unique rawness. As a teenager, Olivia began recording her own original instrumental surf music. After years of self-recording, she put together a demo that soon led to the co-founding of the Black Belles and the band’s signing to Third Man Records. Olivia Jean followed the release of the Black Belles’ self-titled 2011 debut album with her own first full-length, 2014’s Bathtub Love Killings, returning in 2019 with her self-produced sophomore album, Night Owl.
Hailed worldwide for her captivating live performances, Olivia Jean will celebrate Raving Ghost with a wide-ranging live schedule set to include headline dates, festival appearances, and more. Highlights include an eagerly anticipated set at Atlanta, GA’s Shaky Knees Music Festival, slated for Saturday, May 6. Additional dates will be unveiled soon. For updates and more, please visit www.oliviajeanmusic.com.
Tracklist:
- Raving Ghost
- Too Late
- Spider
- Trouble
- I Need You
- Ditch
- Fun
- Fate
- Orinoco Flow
- Godmother
- Don’t Leave
May 5 - The Blue Room - Nashville, TN
May 6 - Shaky Knees Music Festival - Atlanta, GA
May 7 – The Pour House Music Hall – Raleigh, NC
May 8 – DC9 – Washington, DC
May 10 – Middle East Upstairs – Cambridge, MA
May 11 – Mercury Lounge – New York, NY
May 12 – Milkboy – Philadelphia, PA
May 13 – The Basement – Columbus, OH
May 15 – The Drake Hotel Underground – Toronto, ON
May 16 – Shelter – Detroit, MI
May 18 – Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
June 1 – House of Blues Cambridge Room – Dallas, TX
June 2 – House of Blues Bronze Peacock - Houston, TX
June 3 – Parish – Austin, TX
June 6 – Valley Bar – Phoenix, AZ
June 7 – The Moroccan Lounge – Los Angeles, CA
June 8 – Brick & Mortar Music Hall – San Francisco, CA
June 10 – Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR
June 11 – Madame Lou’s – Seattle, WA
June 13 – Urban Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT
June 14 – Lost Lake – Denver, CO
June 16 – Uptown Theater The Encore Room – Kansas City, MO