Article By William Kustiono
Photo Credit Emily Cheng
On September 15, 2013, Olivia+Utopia performed alongside We Are The Wilderness and the Hsu-Nami at Leftfield in Lower East Side NYC. Olivia+Utopia is the first ambient, electro dance music band from Taiwan. The band has been recently nominated for Taiwan Golden Melody Award for “Best New Artist”.
A little background of the lead vocal of this band: Olivia (閻韋伶). In November 2007, Olivia released her first Mandarin album called “Silly kid” (傻孩子). In 2008, she was nominated at the nineteenth annual Taiwan’s Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan released under pop category. Olivia’s instant fame was due to her single “Silly Kid” where she created an image to be a simple girl that only sings about love. After time, with training and experience, she converted from a simple girl to a musical diva that had unrestrained creativity and potential. She stuns the audience with her charming and magnificent vocal. She has successfully broken her chain and has created her own path in the independent music.
In 2012, Olivia established “Olivia+Utopia”(閻韋伶X世外桃源), a musical creative team that performs “Ambient Electro Rock”, which means they create and perform a soundscape that exists beyond the audience’s perception. Their song creates an imagination about peace, love, and freedom. The “Ambient Electro Rock” is very catchy and easy to listen; it has a nice melody fusing with Trip-hop and electro but yet, does not distance itself from rock and roll attitude.
Being Taiwan’s only ambient electro band, Olivia+Utopia became the first and only ambient group in the Mandarin market as well. Each performance differs from another. Olivia wants each performance to utilize different equipment set-ups. Olivia+Utopia also collaborates with Fusion electric DJ. Olivia believes that fusing Ambient vocal and remixes will create a really intense live show that she can share her true emotions with the listeners.
This is our first encounter of this ambient and vocal music band and we can’t wait for Olivia+Utopia to return NYC. For more about the band, please visit: http://www.facebook.com/utopiatiawan
Leave a Reply