Join
now to receive all the new
music
First Word Records releases,
including
30 back-catalog items,
delivered instantly to you via the Bandcamp app for iOS and Android.
Learn more.
Following on from the upbeat single ’Runnin’ Wild’, Olivier St.Louis returns to First Word with a brand new track - ‘Confliction’ featuring fellow DC alumni, Oddisee.
This one is on more of a downbeat alternative-soul tip than the previous track, accompanied by Oddisee’s low-slung boom bap beats and bars.
Olivier says of the track “my identity was forged in conflict; From language and spirituality to race, from animism to catholicism. From West African languages to French, from black to white. With each disruption came acceptance, adaptation and rebirth. Change comes for us all. No one is exempt. What will you do when it's your turn?”
Olivier was born in Washington DC of Haitian and Cameroon heritage, but spent his teens studying in the UK. As a teenager, his CD and tape collection would encompass a wide range of genres, from hip hop and r&b to garage and British alternative rock. A bio-science student, Olivier couldn't suppress his true passion for music. After graduating, he took on a "Jekyll and Hyde" lifestyle; working as a scientist in the day, and a musician at night.
His work as a recording artist eventually led to his debut release in 2011, 'The Mr. Saint Louis EP', released under the moniker Olivier Daysoul and also produced by longtime collaborator, Oddisee.
From here on, Olivier began laying down vocals, collaborating and touring with a wide-range of artists over the following years, including Hudson Mohawke, C2C, Laura Mvula and German rockers, AnnenMayKantereit.
After taking a hiatus from feature work, Olivier decided to concentrate on nurturing his own sound. Embracing a newfound love for blues, rock and funk, a series of late night sessions saw him engulfed in new soundscapes, and reverting back to his birth name, Olivier St.Louis. This saw him release two critically-acclaimed EPs with Berlin-based label, Jakarta, and the release of 'The Serious EP' with Bibio on Warp Records.
Following world tours with many of the afore-mentioned, in 2020 Olivier has been working on all-new material for Worldwide Award-winning London label, First Word Records.
When asked his thoughts on his artistry, Olivier St. Louis simply states "no punches pulled, no compromises, just me".
lyrics
(Oddisee intro )
Ain’t no such thing as half ways
Get the whole or dig a hole
Path ways or mass graves
Oddisee et Saint Louis, finger role
Listen to what my mans say
First Verse
You know not what you speak
When time bears no weight at all
Perched on no where Street
begging to belong
Pre chorus
Are you a scared
Are you scared you won't make the cut
Are you scared
Actin cause you can't be the part
Chorus
Confliction
Confliction in your heart your soul
Confliction
Conflcition
without purpose no whole it's just a hole... just a hole
Verse 2 (Oddisee)
I don’t fear what I don’t understand/
Retreat & learn & then return with the upper hand/ If you scared, then we ain’t share in our circumstance/ We bout as different as Burna’ boy is to Burning Man/ Do the knowledge, emotional or Logic/ In the option we’re lost or find it/ Heart open minded/ You looking to the stars for the signage/ That your designing/ It’s you that are the line that you’re crossing/ Don’t deny it/ Pius pilot, predetermined to fly defiant/ I seek to earn what is given when gotten i despise it/ Satisfied with, less the more I collect the prizes/ Secure the baggage, my past dragging it’s hard to climb with/ Chasing the dragon you know will burn you the day you find it/ But at least you found it so when it hurts you, you never mind it/ Conflicts in all sorts, shapes & sizes/ The one with self is a quake, seismic/
Chorus
Confliction
Conflictions with in your heart your soul
Confliction
Conflcition
With out purpose no whole there's just a hole ...Just a hole
Break down
Can't decide which side your on
Are you the fix or you the problem
Panafri or afropolitan
Benefit advance or you back pedalin
Identity crisis what you standin for standin in
Happy to fail forward once I learn what I last fell in
No back pedalin
Pre chorus
Are you a scared
Is you scared you won't make the cut
Is you scared
Actin cause you can't be the part
Chorus
Confliction
Conflictions with in your heart your soul
Confliction
Conflcition
with out purpose no whole it's just a hole... just a hole
Olivier St. Louis made a name for himself as a featured musician,adding vocals to tracks by artists around the world. The
Washington, DC-born singer with Haitian roots wound up living in Berlin, collaborating with musicians as wide-ranging as Oddisee, Bibio, C2C, Onra & Hudson Mohawke. Influenced by blues, rock and R&B, his songs ripple and burn, fueled by his smoky, passionate vocals....more
supported by 16 fans who also own “Confliction ft. Oddisee”
in a place much worse then most music can catch in/on to, am streaming the album until the music can. have more faith in Hiatus Kaiyote as soundallies then a presenter could assume or guess. I love you all significantly, there's a mango vape, thc9 watermelon syrup and organic cigarettes if you come through however🙏🏼, I don't really have any money. BeatsaNdBuds
supported by 15 fans who also own “Confliction ft. Oddisee”
Like so many others, this came like a bolt out of the blue and, even though it's well before payday, I had to have this astonishing album on vinyl to prove it exists. The feel of the tunes makes me feel like the Impressions do, Curtis Mayfield, the big spaces and instinctive horns and stuff drifting in and out. Great grooves and I can see lots of ghosts nodding along to this with big smiles on their faces. At last! Anthony Cottrell