Kells' native, Oliver Cole, releases his fourth solo studio album, Wingspan, on October 3rd 2025.
Following the acclaim he received for his 2020 album "Father, Brother, Son", which was named RTE Album of the Week, Newstalk Album of the Week, and Irish Times Album of the Week, Cole delivers another immersive musical journey. He describes "Wingspan" as less direct than his other albums, more of a stream of consciousness approach.
"The songs are more like faded photographs, vignettes viewed through foggy windows. There is meaning and truth there but it must be deciphered and interpreted by the listener."
The songs for Wingspan were recorded in Oliver's back garden studio, The Cole Shed, which he built during the Covid pandemic. With the help of long-term friends and collaborators Gav Fox (Turn, Idlewild, Sack), Graham Hopkins (The Frames, Glen Hansard, Therapy, Dolores O'Riordan), Jason Oglesby, and Leila Keeney. Oliver recorded and self-produced the album.
Oliver describes the recording process as long and challenging, with numerous crises of confidence moments leading to long breaks and abandoned songs. Ultimately, it was Oliver's long-time friend and mixing engineer, Ciaran Bradshaw, who stepped in and helped complete the album.
BIOGRAPHY
Having had some success with his first band Swampshack, Oliver Cole formed the three-piece rock band, Turn. Oliver was Turn's singer, songwriter and main guitarist, and they soon signed to Infectious Records in London, which was home to Muse, Ash and Garbage, among others. Turn enjoyed great success and popularity, playing sell-out gigs at Vicar Street and a packed to the gills standout performance at the Oxegen festival in 2005.
They released three Irish Top 10 albums, 'Antisocial' (2000), 'Forward' (2003), and 'Turn' (2005) and were nominated for Ireland's coveted Choice Music Award. Cole left the band in 2006 to begin work on his first solo album, 'We Albatri', which was recorded in Germany. Upon its release in 2010, The Irish Times gave the album 5 out of 5 and made it their album of the month. Oliver continued to progress his career as both a songwriter and solo artist, on 'Year of The Bird' which was released to huge critical acclaim in 2015.
'Father Brother, Son', Cole's third album, was released in 2020. Unearthing themes of life and loss, birth and death, it explored the path from grief to recovery, following the passing of his mother and brother, in what we have and what we leave behind. Oliver is a well-respected songwriter and continues to collaborate and tour with some of Ireland's biggest names such as Glen Hansard and Gemma Hayes to name a few.
