Lead Story

The Olivia Tremor Control – The Same Place

The third and final album from the Elephant 6 collective’s shining lights is a psychedelic feast for the senses and a timely reminder of Olivia Tremor Control’s enduring appeal.

The Same Place, the third and final album from Athens, Georgia’s The Olivia Tremor Control, is a truly bittersweet experience. After the deaths of core songwriters Bill Doss and Will Cullen Hart, in 2012 and 2024, respectively, it marks the definitive end of this special band while simultaneously showcasing everything that made them so beloved in the first place.

Naturally, there is beauty, joy, melancholy, psychedelia, and a seven-part experimental song suite called “Path of the Parallels”—quintessential Olivia Tremor Control, basically. But there’s also a contextual listener element that is impossible to discount. What is the story of our own relationship with the band? How did we discover them? What memories do their songs soundtrack? What does the premature conclusion of our journey together mean?

Dusk at Cubist Castle holds a special place in my heart. I admire Black Foliage, but I adore Cubist Castle. I first heard “NYC-25” on an expertly crafted mixtape 26 years ago, and I haven’t really looked back since. Like many men of a certain age, I went through a huge Neutral Milk Hotel phase during my university years, but I feel like The Olivia Tremor Control’s music has weathered the passing of time a little better than their Elephant 6 contemporaries. And I always found their experimental side a little more effective than Jeff Mangum’s.

If The Olivia Tremor Control’s previous two records represented the duality of the band, as purveyors of both pristine psychedelic pop and experimental sonic collage, The Same Place finds a sumptuous middle ground that makes for an ideal closing statement. There are sparkling songs to rival the likes of Cubist Castle’s “Jumping Fences.” “Timewaster,” “Garden of Light,” and “Advice from the Oceans” are immediate standouts, but deeper cuts like the tender “California Demise 4,” “Leaf,” and the Pet Sounds-inspired “Now Begin” reveal the depth of The Same Place’s songwriting. Meanwhile, Parts I-VII of “Path of the Parallels” represent the band’s more innovative side; still psychedelic, but more fragmented and dream-like.

Writing about Sparklehorse’s wonderful Bird Machine in 2023, I noted that “Posthumous releases can seem exploitative, eerie, and sometimes even a little bit icky.” There is nothing of that here. This project is impeccably realised and sounds unmistakably like The Olivia Tremor Control. 24 years after Will Cullen Hart recorded the first scraps of what would become The Same Place in his home studio, we finally have the band’s long-awaited third album. It’s a tragedy that neither Hart nor Doss are around to witness it, but this glorious album stands as a powerful testament to the chemistry and talent of two High School buddies from rural Louisiana, who together with their friends, made some of the most enduring music of the 1990s.

The Same Place is out now via the Elephant 6 Recording Company.