[Concert Moved to Fremont Abbey]

Ada Lea + Ollella
Fri, Oct 24 | Fremont Abbey
Tickets: abbeypresents.org

Two artists who write like they’re talking to the quiet part of your mind.

Ollella (Ellie Barber) started singing before she could talk. A classically trained cellist turned indie-folk experimenter, she layers voice and loop in ways that feel both grounded and alive.

Twice an NPR Tiny Desk finalist, her songs move with a kind of raw honesty — organic, a little wild around the edges.

Ada Lea (Alexandra Levy) brings a different kind of depth — folk songs that float and linger, poetic but unpretentious. Pitchfork called her work “a collection of breezy, folk-indebted songs that marvel at everyday realities and find joy in humility.” It’s music that makes space to breathe.

A night for anyone who loves songs that live in the in-between — quiet, brave, and a little bit beautiful.

“With an unforced approach and humble wit, musician and visual artist Alexandra Levy reflects on creativity, community, and writing a song even Bob Dylan can’t.” — Pitchfork

“Her new album is clearly the work of a lively mind that's always forward-thinking, but also richly aware of the folk music legacy that precedes her.” — Stephen Thompson, NPR Music

#adaléa #ollella #abbeyarts #seattlemusic #indiefolk #fremontabbey

Ada Lea: www.adaleamusic.com

"“The hand knows best,” the painter Margaux Williamson says. “A shape produces itself, where I go toward what is intuitive, rather than logical.” The shapely, intuitive songs that comprise Ada Lea's third album, when i paint my masterpiece, are surprising, imagistic, tactile. They stand before us and we feel their brushstrokes. Alexandra Levy holds her guitar against the backdrop of a sea of her paintings on the album cover and it’s tempting to ask: is painting a metaphor here, for music or life? No! As ever, she resists tidy metaphors. She’s a master of this kind of thorny lowercase title that germinates and grows with time. In a real, profound way, music and painting go hand-in-hand as she unveils a new style of subversion and surrealism inspired by her transdisciplinarity.

Levy is a Renaissance woman, and Ada Lea’s albums have been swelling in scope alongside the evolution of her artistic life. Her recent turn toward pedagogy—teaching a songwriting course at Concordia University and co-facilitating a community-based group called The Songwriting Method—weaves another vivid thread into her multifaceted practice. Her debut LP, what we say in private, blurred the lines between interior and performative worlds. Her sophomore record, one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden, featured vignettes centered on Montreal. On this sprawling and ambitious album, written over three years and whittled down from over 200 songs, she asks: what happens when you… pause? How can a life be held suspended in song? The album is a kaleidoscopic exploration of the transformations art can bring: the vision of an uncompromising artist dancing bravely and freely between registers and across mediums.

The album marks a reset—a quiet revolution. After years of relentless international touring, Levy felt an urgent need for community and renewal. Gruelling road schedules with very little support left her wondering: who am I really doing all this for? The system was uncaring and broken, and so it was that she came to envision a new healthy and healing mode of musical genesis. “For me, that looked like resting, extending my creative reach, going back to school, studying painting and poetry,” she explains. “Taking a step away from music as guided by industry expectations. Simplifying things. Getting a job, starting to teach. Engaging with the process rather than the product.” This need for a more deliberate creative renewal was rejected by her existing systems of support, so she began the search for an alternative.

when i paint my masterpiece was largely recorded in rural Ontario in the waning weeks of 2023, and its warm harmonies and lush arrangements link back to a golden era of Canadian folk music. The core Ada Lea band—Tasy Hudson on drums, Chris Hauer on lead guitar, Summer Kodama on bass—recorded the album largely live-off-the-floor and acoustic in one room, off the grid in both senses, in the pocket, loose but in control and without a click in sight. Relinquishing the process to the whims of chance allowed for the sanctity of human error to rear its head. The album lives and breathes, produced with Here We Go Magic’s Luke Temple, who has lent his gently psychedelic sensibility to albums by artists like Adrianne Lenker and Hand Habits.

The album views the world through an unstable prism of imagination. “midnight magic” is set firmly in a shimmering dreamworld that could have been summoned by Judee Sill. “snowglobe” refracts a dinner scene later glimpsed through glass by a child. In “there is only one thing on my mind,” a series of magical transformations send the speaker soaring like a Chagall figure. These transformations also draw inspiration from mythical novelist Olga Tokarczuk’s honoring of otherness and inexplicability, and the surrealist painter-novelist Leonora Carrington’s engagement with mysterious forces of nature, and the self as an observed observer. “Just like in the museum/ We keep a little distance” Levy sings.

And by the end of these sixteen songs, it’s clear: when i paint my masterpiece isn’t chasing perfection, it’s comfortable in the magic of being. These songs are alive with poetic specificity and a wide-open heart—deeply felt, often strange, and always reaching. There’s an optimistic and plainspoken wisdom in the lyrics—which builds on Ada Lea’s singular songwriting style of surprising harmonic and melodic turns—now with a newly rich, organic sound that rewards slow listening. Let’s look more closely at the title. At first, the most charged words seemed to be “paint” and “masterpiece.” But look again at “when.” It’s becoming more and more unstable. And we now know it’s predicting something that’s already here. The masterpiece, not a product, is the process." - Artist Bio

Ollella: www.ollellamusic.com

"Ellie Barber a.k.a. Ollella’s career as a musician started early, when she sang before she could talk. Trained as a classical cellist since the age of nine, the Seattle indie-folk musician merges her technical string background with authoritative vocals and live-looping. Described as “really outstanding” by NPR Music and “so tastefully done” by Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast), Ollella’s sound is organic with a side of edge, pulling on influences such as Feist, Cat Power, and Sylvan Esso. She is a two-time finalist in the NPR Tiny Desk Contest (2024, 2022), has had music featured in film and TV, and is a frequent collaborator with others. She finds herself drawn to music because it unlocks a particular flavor of humanity – one that fits the type of world she believes in." - Artist Bio

@ FREMONT ABBEY, SEATTLE

7p doors, ~7:30p show

All ages, mostly seated, bar with ID

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EVENT & VENUE INFO:

Please limit photos during the show so as to not distract other attendees from the experience.
Please enter quietly if the show has already begun.
Please leave quietly, it's a very quiet neighborhood.
Quiet Picnics Welcome. ie. please no crunchy packaging or loud chips, smelly foods, etc. We sometimes have a few tables out, or you can use the side yard if weather is nice.
Light snacks & beverages may be available for purchase in lobby
We have a mix of padded chairs, benches, and a little standing room in back for big shows.
Fremont Abbey is ADA accessible. Please email boxoffice@fremontabbey.org with questions and for accommodations.
Service animals as defined by the ADA are allowed. Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.
We are an all ages venue. Kids 10 & under are free at Abbey Arts concerts & arts events unless noted. Please request by emailing boxoffice@fremontabbey.org
Entering the venue indicates agreement to adhere to the Abbey Respect Policy. All are welcome. fremontabbey.org/respect