Review: Oli Brown and The Dead Collective – Prelude EP

Black Feather Music (January 27th, 2023)

Reviewer: Dan Mann

I’ll be honest and say I’ve been waiting with baited breath for some new recordings from Oli Brown since the sad demise of RavenEye, details of which I won’t go into.

I’ve been a fan of Oli’s music going right back to the young man in the striped suit trousers playing the blues. When he ventured over to the dark side with RavenEye, I was delighted with this change of direction, they even headlined my first Fibrofest Festival!

Anyway, enough waffling, what’s this Dead Collective all about? After the lifting of lockdown, during which, I must add, Oli set up his Black Feather Design jewellery business, Oli hit us with this new collaboration. I saw them play at Winter Rocks last year and was impressed with what I heard under what were not ideal sound conditions.

‘Prelude‘ gives us four tracks that aren’t dissimilar to RavenEye, but they have an added soundscape and depth to them. The production is first rate, shared by Oli himself and renowned drummer & producer Wayne Proctor. Joining them on the EP are Alex Phillips on bass and Andrew Banfield on synth.

The litmus paper test of any new release is how many times you play it on first receipt. Well the simple answer is ‘many’. It’s just got my juices flowing for a full length album, it’s great to see Oli back on the music scene in full flow.

If your a fan of Oli’s previous output, or your a fan of well written, structured and produced rock then ‘Prelude’ needs to be on your ‘must get’ list!

Track List:

1. Heard It All Before
2. Sinking Ship
3. Haunted
4. Haunted feat. Jo Quail (Solitude Sessions)