Olivia Kaplan

Olivia Kaplan  
p: Michelle Simunovic

info:

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Olivia Kaplan came to music through the American folk and jazz standards swimming throughout her childhood. At 13 she started writing songs on her dad’s Guild acoustic and has dedicated herself to the craft with ever growing acuity since. After pursuing a formal vocal and music education in high school and college, she left a conservatory level jazz program at McGill University in Montreal and made her way back home to record her own songs, while getting her degree in ethnomusicology at UCLA.

Olivia has self-released two EPs, Goddamn, I Miss You (2014) and At the Seams (2018), and singles “Comfort Food” (2019), and “What You Want” (2020). 2021 finds her embarking on a new chapter with single “Wrong”, a warm and bouncing groove dedicated to everyone trying their best to find balance in devastation and absurdity. The track features Buck Meek (Big Thief) on guitar.

Olivia Kaplan's debut full-length album, Tonight Turns To Nothing, coming soon, introduces this dazzling songwriter to a musical landscape primed for her ease and duality. In 11 songs, she reflects on the pitfalls of modern intimacy and her own personal defeats with a measured self-awareness, melancholy and wit. The songs were written and recorded during the off hours of her side-hustle as a waitress in Los Angeles and made in the garage studio of the album’s producer and her band-mate, Adam Gunther. While the unmistakable anchor of Kaplan’s music is her rich, smoky voice and cathartic storytelling, her songs are elevated by inspired production choices, delicate arrangements, and the musicianship of the people in the room: including drummer Jorge Balbi (Sharon Van Etten), Alex Fischel (Spoon), and Buck Meek (Big Thief). The album was mixed by Joseph Lorge (Perfume Genius, Phoebe Bridgers).

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members

  • Olivia Kaplan - vocals, guitar
  • Adam Gunther - bass, guitar, synth
  • Jorge Balbi - drums
  • Georgia Lill - cello

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press:

Olivia Kaplan Is Your Next Favorite Indie Singer-Songwriter. Pop that cuts deep.
-Rolling Stone

Tonight Turns to Nothing is nothing short of magical.
-The Revue

Kaplan’s self-compassion and forgiveness are made even more affecting by her vocals, which flow with serenity and poise. 'Tonight Turns to Nothing' not only captures the candid warmth and timelessness of the singer/songwriter genre, but it also embodies the hopes and fears that are rattling around our brains in 2021.
-Paste

Olivia Kaplan is the kind of writer and musician I’ve been yearning for. Clever and composed, her words and melodies perfectly intertwine to evoke an overwhelming and lush wave of nostalgia.
-Playdate

Lush, subtly mixed instrumentation breathes life into the spaces between the record’s soft, acoustic-oriented arrangements. 'Tonight' makes for great background music, but when examined under a sonic microscope, a gripping preoccupation with adulthood and self-aware neurosis churn through its subtext.
-Flood Magazine

It is a bit surprising that Tonight Turns to Nothing is Kaplan’s debut full-length record, as she already seems to have developed a distinct songwriting voice, one that shows remarkable restraint and control despite dealing with some messy and uncontrollable topics.
-Rosy Overdrive

A gorgeous, '70s folk-inspired single.
-Brooklyn Vegan on "Wrong"

Olivia Kaplan's voice moves through her music like a cross-breeze...Her songs live in open air – as moving in a car with the windows down as they are on an empty Sunday morning at home.
-DoLA

The slow-burning track has detailed narrative lyricism reminiscent of Andy Shauf and an intense sincerity similar to Squirrel Flower.
-Flood Magazine on "Still Strangers"

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