PREMIERE | The Ian Fays, "Olive Says"

The epic, eternal and ethereal ballroom balladry of The Ian Fays; press photo courtesy of Brian K Creative.

The best artists have the power to transform our collective realities and respective experiences. The ability to transport the audience to new dimensions, summon the forces of the paranormal and haunt us in the most mysterious ways is a special skill dating back to the earliest known performances of plays, sonnets, soliloquys and song. Like the way a performance can affect the sense of the beholder in a venue, park amphitheater, house show, gallery, dive and so forth — artistry of the highest degree can change us. Effective arts spark something from within. They can alter our mindsets, introduce new perspectives that perhaps were never before considered and cast a spotlight on new worlds spun from the instruments and tools of the medium in question. Through the most inspired arts we find ourselves and our worlds forever changed.

In this grand tradition of transformative art we present to you San Francisco’s The Ian Fays as they bring us a Valentine’s song for the holiday season with “Olive Says”. The core group of twins Lizz and Sara Fay follow up their recent wistful rustic single “Viola” with a magical torch song suited for smoky clandestine speakeasys, DIY spaces to the most elegant of jazz lounges. As a creative team that works in styles that span across myriad continuums of modern and post-modern constructs of musical sensibilities; “Olive Says” embraces baroque strings in a waltz that steps and sways inside of an endless melody that you never want to end.

“Olive Says” is the perfect song for the hectic holiday season. Amid the chaos of navigating stressful work weeks, travel itineraries, gift lists, family plans, end of year deadlines, financial pressures and everything that arrives with the proverbial most wonderful time of the year — The Ian Fays summon the loverly spirits of Valentine’s nearly three months ahead of schedule. The song itself literally lives within one massive hook, with percussion and strings serving as the central engine to the Fays’ ode to a prescient notion of the spirit of romance that materializes in the most instinctive (yet strangely elusive) manners. The Ian Fays evoke the ennui of being bored and at home in a San Francisco flat when suddenly a haunting of pink and red ghosts deliver the spirit of spellbound love. “Olive Says” is about the need and wanting to love and be loved, in hand with feeling that ecstatic, euphoric energy of being enveloped and enraptured by the presence and graces of a loved one. The Ian Fays celebrate the spectral awe of Valentine’s Day as a haunting they wish to happen all year long and for all time.

Penning pop tunes with The Ian Fays; press photo courtesy of Brian K Creative.

Lizz and Sara Fay provided the following insights on the new single “Olive Says”:

This is a song about longing to be haunted by the red and pink spirits of Valentine’s Day—and also about feeling stuck in my little San Franciscan rental.

Having a seat at the stage with The Ian Fays; press photo courtesy of Brian K Creative.

Listen to more from The Ian Fays via WWNBB.