Color of your sound
OLIVIA LUFKIN'S NEW MUSICAL DIRECTION

INTO THE STARS
When Olivia Lufkin's first solo project, synchronicity, was released in December of 2000, she had stated that "there was no real concept to the album" as it was a mix of pop, rock, ethereal, and even jazz music. After the album's release Olivia went on a year-long hiatus until she finally reemerged in December of 2001 with her seventh single, Sea me. Along with the release of Sea me, Olivia's signature dark-rock and ambient sound was finally established, thus leading to her to switch from the avex trax label, which she had previously released on, to the cutting edge sub-label of avex trax, which was more rock oriented.

Olivia stuck with her new sound for her next single, Into The Stars, and continued to create a sound that was all her own as she went on to release the mini-albums, internal bleeding strawberry, MERRY & HELL GO ROUND, Comatose Bunny Butcher, and The Return of the Chlorophyll Bunny.The period in time which Olivia released these albums has been referred to as "The Mini-Album Era."

In the months following the release of The Return of the Chlorophyll Bunny, it was announced that Olivia's second full-length album, The Lost Lolli, was soon to be released. The album was more of a compilation of songs from all four mini albums, rather than a whole new album, although it did feature two new tracks and two rearrangements. It is safe to say that The Lost Lolli was definitely the peak of Olivia's dark sound.


TRAVEL TO THE MOON
Following the release of The Lost Lolli, Olivia once again disappeared from the music industry and entered another state of hiatus. This hiatus would last a little over double the time of the first, about two and a half years. Olivia did, however, state that around the time of The Lost Lolli's release she was "feeling pretty depressed" and she had "started to notice a lot of her faults." She also stated that this was brought out from a "...dark filter through which she saw everything." During the long hiatus Olivia sought work modeling for a fashion magazine. She also lived in Los Angeles for three months before finally returning to Tokyo to repair her state of living.

In March of 2006 the silence was finally broken; it had been announced that Olivia would return to releasing music, however, she would be playing the role of Trapnest's lead vocalist, Reira, for the anime adaptation of the popular Japanese manga, NANA. June 28th of 2006, Olivia released her ninth single, and first for Trapnest, a little pain. Olivia stated that with the release of a little pain her musical expression was undergoing change. The sound of the NANA inspired song came as a shock to Olivia's long time fans, because although it still maintained Olivia's signature rock sound, many pop-elements that had not been displayed by Olivia since the release of synchronicity had been added to the mix. She said that her style "had gotten a lot more detailed" and had now become "pleasing to the ear" and "a lot cooler."


THE CLOUDY DREAMER
Olivia continued to release music written for NANA. In October 2006, four months after a little pain was released, her tenth single, and second single as Reira, Wish/Starless Night was released. The release of this single prompted relief in many of the fans that were turned off by the pop sound of a little pain, as Wish and Starless Night were absent of any pop-influences. However, both songs were noticeably different from anything released during her now famed "Mini-Album Era." The new sound Olivia was creating using Trapnest and Reira as a muse was drawing more and more attention to her in Japan and her small legion of fans was beginning to bulk up. Fans that have been around since the time of The Lost Lolli will commonly be heard saying that Olivia's new direction "is not bad, but she's lost her edge."

In January of 2007 Olivia took a break from NANA, and briefly returned to releasing music simply under Olivia, and not Olivia inspi' Reira (Trapnest), and the first mini-album since her second hiatus, The Cloudy Dreamer was born. The Cloudy Dreamer included eight songs total; six new tracks as well as a little pain and an English version of Wish. Starless Night was not included on the mini-album. The Cloudy Dreamer marked another first for Olivia, as it was her first mini-album to not be sung entirely in English. A month after the release of The Cloudy Dreamer Olivia released, under the name of Olivia inspi' Reira (Trapnest), a self titled full-length album with ten songs, all written from Reira's point of view. A best album followed yet another month after chronicling Olivia and Anna Tsuchiya's work for NANA, called NANA BEST.

Olivia once again remained silent for an extended period of time, the remainder of 2007. She has stated that she will not be releasing any more music under the name of Reira. A single was planned for the Fall of 2007, however it was delayed multiple times because Olivia "could not choose which song should be the a-side." Before the arrival of 2008 the single was canceled all together and a new mini-album is set to be released on February 20th, 2008. Olivia preformed two songs that are speculated to be on the new mini-album at the end of 2007. They are called Real Love and miss you. Both songs seem to maintain the watered down rock, poppy sound of The Cloudy Dreamer and Olivia's works as Reira, although only time will tell what the new mini-album has in store.


THE FUTURE
Olivia Lufkin's past, present, and future musical directions seem to be as mysterious and unpredictable as her music itself. Be sure sure to check out the new mini-album when it drops in late Feburary and decide for yourself what path you think her music is taking now and weather it's for better or worse.