Last year we had the honour of following the growth of Ollie Twohill with his narrative-driven come up story, Silk Dress, and the emotive and profound single, Hollow, so when we heard that the star had just released Washed Away, we couldn’t wait to listen and feed back!
Delivering a luscious strummed acoustic guitar intro, Ollie Twohill opens Washed Away with drama and emotion, before exploding into an enigmatic, alternative rock energy with an astral electric guitar.
The talented singer shares the opening prose, “I live a simple life, I always keep to myself, despite all the rumours, no I’m not alright, I lost my house this morning as the rain kept pouring….”, before we are taken on a journey of introspection and metaphorical constructs as our protagonist shares his soul and woes.
We swiftly learn that Ollie Twohill wrote Washed Away in response to the catastrophic floods of 2022 that affected his hometown of Murwillumbah and the rest of Australia for the past twelve months.
We always appreciate the poetic prowess and charismatic depth that Ollie Twohill conveys with his work, but the emotional nuance of Washed Away lends itself to a highly tangible energy from the rising artist.
Elaborating on the depth of the story, Ollie confesses, “During the cleanup phase, I was working in a local bottle shop, which was one of the few shops open in town. For seven days, there was limited power, no internet, no access to banks and limited food supplies. At night after cleaning up all day, people would meet up at the hotel to have a feed and drink and share their stories and experiences.”
“I had scores of customers tell me that their house being completely inundated, damaged and lost contents. For some the only thing they were able to salvage was a pair of dry board shorts, or an electronic device. It was heartbreaking …. it was a very an emotional period for everyone – these stories inspired me to write Washed Away“, Ollie continues.
The star tells us, “This song is dedicated to all communities affected by the flood events. This is a story that had to be told. Hopefully Washed Away conveys what it felt like at the time from a flood victims’ perspective.”
We have added Washed Away to our New Music Spotlight playlist, whilst we continue to stream Ollie Twohill’s wider discography including Neverland and Stone Cold Killer.