FROM THE ARCHIVE: Oliver Tree - Alien Boy EP (REVIEW)


California’s overtly eccentric Oliver Tree’s genre of music is flexile and honestly hard to pigeonhole. Just as Tree’s style and online ‘brand’ mixes elements of comedy, art and originality, with his trademark 90s elephant jeans and bowl cut, as well as his scooter skills, so too does his musical endeavours with his new release the ‘Alien Boy EP’ which features a mere 6 infectious songs.

Tree’s over-the-top approach isn’t for everybody. A self-confessed “extraordinary specimen”, his humour is very millennial and internet-meme-centric, but his corniness does offer an uplifting, feel-good experience when accompanied with his music. I think Oliver Tree’s music clicked for me whilst watching the producer’s debut video for two of the EPs tracks “All That” and the opener, “Alien Boy”. His music, like his comedic visual approach, is carefree, funny, catchy and most notably, it doesn’t take itself seriously. It sounds cliché, but the strengths of Oliver Tree’s music is that it’s not meant to be explored deeper than the surface for meaning, its enjoyment comes from its simplicity, repetitiveness and catchiness.

From the EPs downbeat and sweet indie-pop “All I Got”, to the hip-hop-informed braggadocios to the point of it being funny “All That”, the album’s smoothly produced track list is nothing but fun. “Welcome to LA” feels like it could even be an Anderson .Paak song, whereas the closer “Upside Down” sounds somewhat is more like straight up dance music. The highlight of the album has to be the opener and title track “Alien Boy”, which demonstrates simple but dreamy production accompanied by an insanely catchy hook aired through Tree’s eccentric vocal style “I fell down to earth / From a hundred miles away and somehow / I still make it work”. 

This EP isn’t what you’re looking for if you want deep lyrical themes or realness, but it definitely is what you’re looking for if you want something that’s easy, fun and colourful. Oliver Tree manages to create an image that is so comedic and unique both visually and musically, that he stands out for me in a way that just feels weirdly right. Tree’s music is like an annoying earworm that I just cannot get enough of, and it seems that this EP is only a sign of greater things to come from the Santa Cruz comedian/producer/meme.

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