We Albatri should now be available in all good record shops, as they say, but also still on your computer, with 7digital still having the best deal at €6.99 but without the bonus song. The Ticket in the Irish Times has made We Albatri CD of the Week with a glowing 5 star review.
There doesn’t seem to be much interviews promoting the album yet, but here’s one on culch.ie, there are numerous news items though and the best is from Oxfam, who reused the milk photo from 2005.
CD of the Week: OLIVER COLE We Albatri EMI Ireland * * * * *
Here’s an interesting proposition for the listener and a challenge for the songwriter: how do you make a worthwhile solo life for yourself following some semi-successful years in a much-loved band?
Most artists make the mistake of “reinventing” themselves to the point that they are unrecognisable, their need to be different totally at odds with who and what they really are.
Which brings us to Oliver Cole. Cole used to be in Turn , an Irish rock band of no small note but one that failed to ring even medium-sized bells with this critic. Following what appears to have been a fallow, frustrating period in both his creative and personal life, Cole relocated to Frieburg, Germany, with a fresh approach to songwriting and new topics to write about.
The result of his labours, the abstractly titled We Albatri , is not so much a return to form (and, thankfully, nothing so futile as a reinvention) but the introduction to a virtually new songwriter. In short, We Albatri is stunning.
Let’s tease it out a little bit. The album’s opener, What Will You Do? , initially blends Cheap Trick with The Beatles, but gradually comes across as a whirling, swirling piece of original power pop. Oh My Girl, Spotlight and Close Your Eyes channel the soul and spirit of Elliot Smith; the latter song, in particular, hits all the right mellow and mournful notes (and benefits from a suave string arrangement by Ken Rice).
Other tracks, such as Little Bad Dream, Drug Song, Spotlight and Moth’s Wing , are indicative of a songwriter, perhaps typically and inevitably, drawing from a well of emotional and lifestyle screw-ups. As Cole sings in Drug Song : “There’s not a way that I can say to you what I have been through . . . I don’t want anyone to see me like I am right now, I’m not so proud . . . I lost myself in the pull and push.”
Cole’s memorably tuneful melodies (best exemplifed by the graceful closing track, Moth’s Wing ) are a perfect counterbalance to the occasional self-contempt, self-doubt and sheer oppressiveness of life’s liabilities. But Cole comes across as someone who can look them in the face and walk away the winner. And in a sense, this is what We Albatri is: absolutely victorious. See olivercole.ie
Download tracks: What Will You Do, Close Your Eyes, Moth’s Wing
TONY CLAYTON-LEA
It’s still a few days before We Albatri is released but doesn’t mean there aren’t bargains to be had already. 
The dates for Oliver Cole’s tour around Ireland have been posted on his Myspace page, as well as these gigs Oliver will also play in Tower Records at 1pm Friday 26th to support We Albatri’s release, and then appear on the Late Late Show on RTE that night.