Album Review: Olympia – Flamingo

The follow-up to Olympia's 2016 debut Self Talk is aptly named – Flamingo is a creature that mildly saunters along then dazzles with colourful, slightly avant-garde displays, without stepping too far away from the herd into the spotlight. 

The Wollongong artist originally created a sound and look that helped carve a neat little niche within the indie-pop realm. There Olympia hung her hat on her stark but feminine vocal and guitar nous, making Self Talk an underappreciated success.

Where that debut pleased with angular, resonant guitars amid uncomplicated, upbeat motifs and musings on relationships and everyday curveballs in life, Flamingo adds a little more lacquer by slightly glossing over these elements. There are thick walls of interesting sounds and textures in Star City, Hounds and Two Hands with her Blondie-esque vocals, which are immediately likeable and don’t get lost in the wash like on some of the other bangers. Sparser tracks like Easy Pleasure and Nervous Riders offer some other facets to a polished if not perfect second album.