Watch our full interview with Oli!
During self-isolation earlier this year, Australian musician Oli Critchley found himself pondering the idea of what it would be like to write, record and produce a song each day. Critchley took to social media to see what his friends and audience thought of the idea. After a positive response, he sat down the next day to write the first track of his new project ‘a song a day keeps the doctor away’. Titled Go, the track was accompanied with a black and white video showing the process of creating the song. Fast forward two weeks and Critchley had kept to his word, with the odd day off here and there, having released 13 tracks. Each track had its own accompanying video that continued the behind the scenes look into how each track was made.
Critchley released an official music video for Coming Up, the final song of the project. Directed and filmed by his partner, the pair utilised Instagrams Super 8 filter feature, filming the musician in and around his home. The lo-fi nature of the music video paired with Critchley’s gentle vocals and euphoric sounds are perfectly complimentary to each other.
Whilst the process was rewarding, he did find the challenge at times exhausting. “After a while, having to wake up and then constantly be thinking about what to write and then producing it … it was a constant loop and it became quite exhausting”. Critchley hopes to compile the tracks, which were mixed by Sydney based engineer and producer Zac Karolic, into a full length album to be released at a later stage.
The musician has also been working on his collaborative efforts. Critchley is a member of Good Lekker, a six piece band also hailing from New South Wales’ south coast. The band released their first EP late last year which saw them tour the east coast of Australia, with a string of sold out performances. Last week, the band released their latest single Seeking, Needing. Recorded in July 2018, the band held onto the song releasing it now as a thank you to their fans, family and friends for their continued support. The track was recorded by Jack Nigro at The Grove Studio, with the music video featuring moments from the bands career over the past two years.
If his plate wasn’t full enough, Critchley and fellow Good Lekker band mate Alex Gray formed an electronic duo, Hellcat Speedracer. The collaborative project began over the pairs mutual love for techno and their desire to play it live. Critchley found creating music for Hellcat Speedracer during the COVID-19 pandemic to be easier than it was for Good Lekker. This was mostly due to the one-on-one nature of the project, as opposed to collaborating with a larger group of band members. However, he confirms that Good Lekker will be back in the studio very soon, working on their new single.
Check out our full interview with Oli above! You can listen to all the songs from ‘a song a day keeps the doctor away’ here.
Images: Vasili Papathanasopoulos ©
Filming: Vasili Papathanasopoulos and Marcella Ho
Featured Song: Coming Up courtesy of Oli Critchley