Update 17/08/2021:
Ollie has released a new song on Spotify and iTunes called Already Know. Click here to listen to the track.
Ollie, who studies BTECs in Music Performance and Sound Engineering and A Level Art (photography), has used the way the Spring 2020 lockdown made him feel as inspiration to write a song which then turned into an album, after receiving encouragement from his music producer. The album, which Ollie released late last year, has already been streamed more than 1,000 times on Spotify.
When Covid-19 restrictions brought the world of live performance to a shuddering halt in Spring 2020, Ollie was robbed of an activity that his teacher, Mrs Bloore, says: ‘brings him alive.’ But Ollie used the emotions that lockdown made him feel him to write songs, finding that he had something to say through his music.
He said: “I wanted to get across the impact of the surreal times we are living through.
“I probably wouldn’t have written this album were it not for the lockdown. It gave me time to work on my music and gain the confidence in my music to put together songs. And it gave me something to write about.
“The first lockdown made me feel really lonely and all the plans me and my friends had for the summer, after our GCSEs, were just taken away from us. And I wanted to write about that.”
Ollie worked on the first song on the album, which is called ‘Tide’. He says that, once he finished the track, his mother contacted a local music producer to produce the song for Ollie in the studio. Ollie continued: “He was brilliant to me and really helped me with my music. I recorded one song and he said that he thought I should come back with a couple more songs to make up an album.” Which is how Ollie’s tracks, ‘Sign’ and ‘Latina’ were born, to make up the EP album.
While producing the album took determination and self-discipline, Ollie is grateful to his teachers at Framlingham College for setting him on the right track. He said: “I like that we spend five minutes at the start of each lesson with teachers just chatting about how everyone’s feeling. I know that if I need support, there’s people I can reach out to who will help me and chat to me.
“We were lucky enough here to be able to perform even through lockdown, through virtual performances and concerts and things. I know for sure that I want to work in music or acting. I love performing.”
Director of Music at the College, Lucy Bloore, added: “I’ve seen Ollie grow into the confident young man he is today, and I think he’s become a real role model for some of the younger students at the school. He just comes alive when he performs. He is quite sensitive in some ways which really comes through in the depth of his songs. Now he is not afraid to get things wrong and keep going. And that’s what’s going to make him successful. Musicians are can-do people and Ollie is no different.”
While the lockdown gave Ollie time to write his album and release it on digital platforms, he, like the rest of the world, is looking forward to when the pandemic is over so he can perform his songs in front of live audiences. His producer has also helped set up meetings with record labels, which Ollie is hoping to pursue once the pandemic restrictions have eased.
Ollie’s album is available on Spotify. Just search ‘Ollie Moore’, or click here, to find and listen to the full EP.
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