You could say that Californian hip-hop star Oliver Tree might be quirky but, given his partnership with the legendary Robin Schulz saw their collaboration on “Miss You”, amass numbers in the region of 500 million plays on Spotify, he’s certainly making sure he makes the right moves to get his music out there.
Now, given that the aforementioned “Miss You” is merely an added bonus track on “Alone In The Crowd” his new album, should give you some indication as to how confident the hip-hop star is in his own abilities. Opening with hit single “Bounce”, the first thing you notice that, no matter how much of a “character” the Santa Cruz native might portray himself as, there is nothing unusual about his music.
The follow-up to his hit 2022 deluxe release “Cowboy Tears Drown The World In A Swimming Pool Of Sorrow”, is an easy-to-digest, for the most part, inoffensive radio-friendly romp. “Essence” is a crowd-pleasing singalong which sees Lee team up with Supercomputer while “Fairweather Friends” is clearly another fan-favourite judging by streaming numbers for the track.
A contradiction to his at times ridiculous visuals, the musician/producer/artist takes his music very seriously. Like some of the iconic names he has worked during his career, including Robin Schulz, and David Guetta, tracks like “Highlight of my Life” and “The First Night” are chilled-out, laid-back slices of sunshine-drenched hip-hop. To be honest though, from the moment that “Bounce” heralds the start of the album, it’s hard to pick a real stand-out track as, none of the fourteen tracks really see the artist veer too far off his successful path.
“Alone In The Crowd” is summery Sunday afternoon festival music. Oliver Tree is the kind of artist that would sit perfectly into chilled-out Reading & Leeds afternoon slot. It would be foolish to judge Tree on the basis of his image because, step past that and you’ll find an album that is going to shift some serious numbers.
You can find details of his tour here.
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