Olive Avenue - Love is a Dangerous Cat! (An Inside Look)
Photo by Ayethaw Tun
One night during the Fall of 2023, seven musicians are listening back to the master take of an unreleased song called “The Ladonna.” Several of us are on our feet dancing away as the volume is pumped and the excitement of what’s been created brings a smile to everyone’s face. None of us know how the song will really turn out, but the excitement of sharing in its possibilities is intoxicating.
When every musician starts out, there are those nascent attempts to make their own versions of the music that made them pick up an instrument in the first place. There is no bigger joy than listening back to one’s first recordings, no matter how amateur. Within the noise is a sliver of that same magic they felt when they discovered their favorite songs and records. A peek behind the curtain that maybe they are capable of creating that same magic themselves.
This is a feeling that every musician chases for the rest of their lives.
I had the great privilege of helping create Love is a Dangerous Cat!, the second LP by Olive Avenue, brainchild of Chicago’s Ryan O’Toole. From start to finish, I got to see Ryan the songwriter, the artist, the bandleader, the person. I got to see them put their mind, body, and soul into a record; someone else chasing that feeling of creating magic.
Dangerous Cat began with a sudden burst of inspiration. After we had conversations about the release of Olive Avenue’s excellent A Sunset We Could Die In in the summer of 2023, Ryan began writing a whole set of new songs and sending these early demos my way. While Sunset existed in the world of your parents’ favorite prog rock, pop, and soul records from the 70’s, the new demos evoked mid 60’s Dylan, Belle and Sebastian, and Smile era Beach Boys.
During this time, Ryan was also re-envisioning what the Olive Avenue project meant to them. With founding member Max Miller gracefully bowing out of the group after the release of Sunset, the project suddenly became something that was put squarely on their shoulders. One of Chicago’s most prolific songwriters, Ryan decided that they wanted to make the project a vessel for their songs, and set out to find the people who could bring them to life. 18 months after the process began, and on the eve of its release, I had a chance to ask them some questions to reflect on the creation of this record.
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What was it like to restart Olive Avenue in this new format of being "without a band" so to speak?
Ryan O’Toole: It was scary! But ultimately refreshing and exactly what I needed. I approach each record differently and I write in many different styles, so my best method has always been reaching out to specific musicians and artists who fit the world I am currently creating. It’s like capturing a moment in time. I was forced to branch out on my own and find my own relationships in the music scene, and they’ve become some of my nearest and dearest friends. This has allowed me to slowly figure out what I want out of my artistic pursuits, and continue to question myself and my motives. What is at the heart of all this? Each day I hope to get somewhere closer to that spot.
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Very quickly Ryan mentioned the idea of getting the folks in Red Scarves, which includes myself, Braden Poole, Ryan Donlin, and Robby Kuntz, along with Ryan’s brother, JT O’Toole, to be the backing band for this record. Ryan even began dreaming up possible instruments we’d be playing on each tune. The Scarves have existed for over a decade, but we’ve only ever worked on our own songs. I initially felt overwhelmed by the prospect of diving into a different project with the logistics of planning, rehearsing, and recording an album’s worth of tunes. However, I quickly began to realize that this was one of Ryan’s biggest strengths.
From left to right: Ryan Donlin, Robby Kuntz, Ayethaw Tun, Braden Poole, Jack Henry, JT O'Toole, and (bottom) Ryan O'Toole.
Back in high school, Ryan had assembled a group of friends, songwriters, instrumentalists, and singers to form the group Hydrangea Benison. This accumulated in the group recording The White Lake back in 2014. High school naivete aside, this is a record full of ambitious arrangements, bold choices, and an inspired collection of musicians and personalities. Ryan mostly takes a back seat from the spotlight, with their friends taking the bulk of the lead vocals. In retrospect I can imagine a teenage Ryan with the biggest grin listening to the playback of these songs. The power and beauty of a collective aiming for the same goal. The magic of hearing people sharing their vulnerability and combining their talents on tape. The joy of forging connections they knew they’d have for life.
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Tell me about Hydrangea Benison and The White Lake. What did you take away from that experience of bringing all those various people together for a project?
Ryan: Hydrangea Benison was more of a songwriting / recording collective than it was a band; it mostly consisted of my songs, with lots of writing help from my friend Danny (Connolly), and then lots of singers and instrumentalists that I knew from my childhood. We recorded The White Lake in a family friend’s basement studio; it was super DIY. I believe that type of process has been at the core of everything I do; even as I have become independent and confident as a songwriter, the arranging and recording for my albums always takes a village. I think those early days taught me about my gifts of 1.) Bringing people together 2.) Highlighting my friend’s strengths for the betterment of a project 3.) Filling the album making process with a wealth of community and timeless memories.
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Flash forward 10 years later; I am at the cozy Fox Hall Studios located in the Logan Square neighborhood in Chicago, co-operated by Dorian Gehrig and Sima Cunningham. Ryan has decided to go with the Scarves’ suggestion to cut the bulk of Dangerous Cat live in the room. We are recording one of their songs “Safe to Use”. There’s two acoustic guitars and a double bass in the control room, with drums and electric guitar and pedal steel (courtesy of Dorian) in the live room. Producer-engineer Jack Henry is behind the knobs. There is a certain gleeful buzz to the proceedings with Dorian pulling out beautiful phrase after beautiful phrase, and the band gently accompanying Ryan singing their guide vocal. Their voice on these takes won’t even make the final version, but even without an instrument in their hands they are still the ringmaster of the whole operation.
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Was there a reason you wanted to work with Jack?
Ryan: I am a big fan of Friko and Free Range, so that’s how I knew about Jack. I wanted to move into my own version of the indie rock/folk space with this album, so he felt like the perfect fit. Jack really trusted in my vision but also knew where to step in as an additional producer. We tried out a lot of fun things and figured out the sounds of the record as we went. I especially loved his willingness to experiment with different kinds of recording styles and setups! His answer is always “let’s try it” and I love that in an engineer.
Photo by Ayethaw Tun
Another month later; we’re at Trigger recording overdubs along with two more songs. Listening back to the tunes we made with Red Scarves and JT in November is a revelation. It’s always an excellent sign when the music created during a studio weekend is matched by the amount of fun you had experiencing it.
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This is a record all about the small details. What are some sonic delights that you want to shine a light on throughout this album?
Ryan: Across the Airwaves - 5:00 to the end
These are the most transcendent two minutes on the album for me. I hear it differently every time I listen. Ayethaw, Braden, and Ryan (Donlin) perfectly sync up with their arpeggiated polyrhythms on electric guitar. JT has some of the most evocative bass lines. Robby goes absolutely berserk on the drums. Lee brings in the noise with the synthesizers. And there’s even a glockenspiel doing a pattern of 5, Radiohead’s “Let Down” style (played by Robby). I love the ambient ending when the drums have dissipated. It all feels like snowfall.
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We’re joined at Trigger by Chicago’s sonic wizard Lee Ketch for the songs “Flamingo Music” and “Winter Cardinal”. I wrote a big piece for Amplified Chicago on Lee last year that you can read here. On “Flamingo” Lee provides resplendent textures of guitars, making his instrument sound simultaneously like a pedal steel and a theremin. Braden Poole comes another night to provide some harmony vocals. He especially steals the show on “Pocket Puma” adding his whistling talents, banjo, and harmonica to complete the “spaghetti western” sound Ryan was shooting for. On the aforementioned “Safe to Use” Ryan completes the recording by performing a duet with Hayden Marth in one live take over the song. This was a particularly memorable playback listening to the synergy between the two singers, with everyone realizing that no other take would be needed.
One particular song went without any overdubs. “Shortstop” serves as the penultimate song on Dangerous Cat, and it’s the only track I wasn’t present for. With just piano and voice, Ryan gives you the perfect closer. The actual last song on the record, the instrumental “Rainbow Parrot Club” acts as the final credits, with saxophonist Karolina Prus sending us off into the cosmos.
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I feel like Shortstop is a statement piece song. It feels incredibly biographical, under the guise of a sort of alternate universe of some sort. Tell me a little about this song.
Ryan: Shortstop was inspired equally by Belle & Sebastian’s “Piazza, New York Catcher” and Light Blue Lines’ “Baseball”. I am a big baseball fan, and it was my favorite sport to play as a kid. So there’s a little bit of truth in there. But Jamie is who I wished I could’ve been when I was little. I imagine her to be incredibly confident, loud about her love of the game, and ready to prove all of her doubters wrong.
I especially loved the idea of telling a hero’s journey through little league baseball while playing with gender roles and turning them on their heads. The lyrics that the song (and the album) ends with are the ethos of the entire record to me, and set a path forward to all that comes next.
“Gonna take my life into my own hands
Go and put that bat into my hands”
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Our ethos for this entire record was The Song is King. That meant every decision we make with the arrangement, the effects, the mix, down to the voicings of certain chords; they should be in service of the emotional core of the song itself. This was something I immediately noticed when listening to Sunset, and here, we doubled down on this philosophy. When it came to songs like “The Ladonna”, with its kaleidoscopic cast of revolving characters that feels like Magnolia meets “Desolation Row”, we all knew to keep the groove simple and the instrumentation unobtrusive. On “Stereo Sunshine”, an ode to the beauty of great music and friendship, we lean into Ryan’s “Don’t Worry Baby” key changes and spice up the playfulness of the rhythms along with the guitar and bass fills. This is a skill that takes years to fully grasp, and Ryan in particular excels at it.
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Where did some of these lyrics come from? Though you might touch on some elements of relationships and self-reflection like in previous records of yours, there is something different about these Dangerous Cat lyrics. Just curious what was inspiring you during this writing process.
Ryan: I am never quite sure where my lyrics come from; somewhere in the ether!! I think with Dangerous Cat I wanted to blend personal stories with fiction, character studies, lighthearted moments, and moments that cut directly to the heart. I was especially inspired by Bob Dylan and Belle & Sebastian. There are also a ton of references to my love of music and animals. I definitely needed a song about my cat in there!! As I am writing an album and continue to world build, I like to make connections and references between songs.
I hope there is a little bit of something for everyone in these stories.
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As I wrap up my thoughts, the weight and scale of album creation hits me hard. Being a part of this record brought me closer to my mythical pursuit of creating that magic that my heroes once made me feel. Working in close proximity to Ryan and seeing their dedication to the craft reminded me why we do this in the first place. There is so much beauty in the village and community it takes to make an album. It’s taken me years to see that it’s not about the end goal of an LP, but the person you become and the people you grow closer to because of it.
Maybe it wasn’t the songs and records from my youth that was the magic, but the person I became after hearing those notes and those words. Here’s my hope that you give Love is a Dangerous Cat! a listen. There’s a lot of magic in there.