Today, Irish singer songwriter Oliver Cole releases his new single ‘Choose Carefully, Emily’
Taken from his recent widely acclaimed album ‘Father, Brother, Son’, ‘Choose Carefully, Emily’ is a song written and performed by Oliver Cole and his daughter Emily when she was 4 years of age. It came about quite organically – there was a ukulele hanging on the wall in the kitchen and Oliver would sing the song to Emily while she was eating breakfast to make her laugh. Emily would suggest different fruits and seeds and Oliver would incorporate them into the song. On one level the song seems quite silly, where whatever seed Emily eats, she turns into that fruit or plant and takes on its physical characteristics. On another level it’s a song that offers some sage advice to Emily – that the decisions she makes in life will have consequences. It becomes a kind of little fable and finishes with the line “if you’re gonna eat some kind of seed, choose carefully, Emily”. The song is accompanied by a handcrafted stop motion animated video, meticulously put together by Richard Davis.
Having had some success with his first band Swampshack, Oliver Cole formed the three-piece rock band, Turn. Oliver was Turn’s singer, songwriter and main guitarist, and they soon signed to Infectious Records in London, which was home to Muse, Ash and Garbage, among others. Turn enjoyed great success and popularity, playing sell-out gigs at Vicar Street and a packed to the gills standout performance at the Oxegen festival in 2005.
They released three Irish Top 10 albums and were nominated for Ireland’s coveted Choice Music Award. Oliver left the band in 2006 to begin work on his first solo album, ‘We Albatri’, which was recorded in Germany. Upon its release, The Irish Times gave the album 5 out of 5 and made it their album of the month.
Oliver continues to progress his career as both a songwriter and solo artist, his most recent album ‘Year Of The Bird’ was released to huge critical acclaim in 2015. Oliver is a well-respected songwriter and continues to collaborate and tour with some of Ireland’s biggest names such as Glen Hansard and Gemma Hayes to name a few.
‘Father, Brother, Son’, is an album about recovery and redemption, the healing that begins after the acceptance of the loss. It features Graham Hopkins (Glen Hansard, The Frames, The Cranberries), Robbie Malone (David Gray) and Colm Querney (Lir) as well as his old Turn bandmate Gavin Fox.
In the short time since its release ‘Father, Brother, Son’ has received praise from all quarters with RTE and Newstalk making it their album of the week. Tony Clayton Lea from the Irish Times said:
“Father, Brother Son is full of gorgeous meaningful tunes that everyone needs to hear right now.”
‘Father Brother Son’ is Oliver Cole’s third album. Unearthing themes of life and loss, birth and death, it explores the path from grief to recovery, what we have and what we leave behind. It is available on vinyl and digital download from Bandcamp.com
