Electronic producer and performer Olive Hatake’s debut album Life Of Colour (“one of the underrated Irish albums of 2022”, Nialler9) was an introspective view of his personal development and growth throughout the period of its creation. Cataloguing the downfalls of being an upcoming artist along with the joy of being free to make art, it is a therapeutic sonic journey of his epiphany in finally being able to accept the lessons life teaches us. The concept of a life in colour and seeing the beauty in everyday life comes from the famous Japanese Philosophy Wabi Sabi. The record is described in one phrase - euphoric therapy.
The accompanying visual album was due to Olive's love for the arts, his obsession with colour and the idea that sometimes in order to understand a story in its entirety you need to watch or see it. This informed the exhibition and short film that accompanied the album, bringing the album's subtexts to life. The beauty in these external visual pieces is that they offered the perspective of other artists from within the Hidden Hill collective, taking inspiration from the music while relating it to their own battles and journeys. This full length project followed 2021's Bandersnatch and Boring Art? EPs, the latter a audio visual collaboration with the National Gallery. A two track companion piece Life Without Colour followed with the likes of Jenny Greene championing this most inventive of artists.
He released ‘1975’, his first new music of 2023, in April and returned in July with the two track Summertime In Ireland Tapes - premiered on BBC Radio 1 Introducing. It will set the scene for his second album, due for release in the autumn and following an appearance at this year’s Ireland Music Week.
