Michael O.

Michael O.

Power's Out

Fruits & Flowers

The songs of Michael “O” Olivares (of The Mantles) get deeper and more beautiful as tears go by. With this new single he is teamed up again with producer Edmund Xavier, and with players from The Mantles and The Oilies, pulling off winding & jangling folk-rock ballads tinged with flecks of art rock and psychedelia. All songs land somewhere between Jacobites, The Pastels and Kevin Ayers for another klassic Fruits & Flowers unpopular pop hit single.

Michael O.

Really?

Fruits & Flowers

***MICHAEL O. (OLIVARES) of beloved Bay Area psych-pop band THE MANTLES has been steadily building songs in his basement in Oakland with the help of HORRID RED’s EDMUND XAVIER for the past few years. The result is this affecting collection of cracked pop hits and tragic ballads. The Mantles are known to lay down a thick electric jangle, but with Michael's solo songs the focus rests on rough-hewn vocal melodies and lyrics, laced with synths, acoustics, clarinet and noises. Really? arrives one year after the release of his Face The Facts single and with it Michael tumbles headfirst into Modern Lovers, Tronics, Kevin Ayers, Jacobites and Tall Dwarfs territory... home recorded & highly personal, but not lo-fi, please.

Michael O.

Face The Facts

Fruits & Flowers

***The inaugural offering from Fruits & Flowers is a very special treat. It’s the first solo release by MICHAEL O., aka MICHAEL OLIVARES, the front-man for Bay Area band THE MANTLES, who've made records for Slumberland, Mexican Summer and Siltbreeze amongst others. While The Mantles peel off ragged west coast psych, here Michael O. steps into eccentric pop territory. Working in his basement in Oakland & in SF with EDMUND XAVIER (HORRID RED, etc), Michael O. built a mini-masterpiece of pop with elements of art-rock, new wave & psych-folk, DIY but NOT lo-fi. It’s tempting to add some musical references, but this record is difficult to pin down to a particular era or style. We advise that you just throw this on and get lost in the cracked and glorious world of Michael O. Fans of The Mantles’ paisley hooks will be pleased, but the album is less about heavy guitar riffs than Michael’s distinct voice & melodies which he and Edmund adorned with layers of organs, synths, drum machines and clarinet (!). This 7" EP features two Michael O. originals on side A and a pop take on an early Scorpions tune on the B-side. LP coming soon.