Songwriter & Producer Oli Rockberger is proud to present ‘Fortify’, the second lead single of his forthcoming album ‘Look Up’ (July 23), to be released via his imprint Human Static Records on May 21st 2021

The ten song collection reflects a highly personal exploration of a year like no other. Combining a distinctive classic songwriting style within a folktronica sound world, ‘Look Up’ explores the striving for hope amidst enforced isolation, while reflecting on the past, present and future. On ‘Fortify’, Oli says: “...of the songs I’ve written over the last few collections, I feel this one really represents me in a quite fundamental way....maybe something in the combination of the warm folk-style piano underpinning the stacked vocals. I feel the production overall captures a sound world that I’ve been moving towards over the last few years ...it feels peaceful to me...”

During ten years living in NY post Berklee, Oli worked extensively as a session player and touring sideman, with credits including: Carly Simon, Chris “Daddy” Dave, John Mayer, Steve Gadd, Will Lee, Steve Jordan and Randy Brecker, and made three albums as a founding member of innovative electro-fusion project Mister Barrington alongside Zach Danziger and Owen Biddle. Oli returned to his native London in 2016, joining the touring band of multi-award winning artist Laura Mvula, and releasing his 2nd solo studio album 'Sovereign' via Whirlwind Recordings.

Since then, Oli has built a strong songwriting, production and session presence on London’s creative music making scene, with recent writing collaborations including: Jordan Rakei (“Speak” from Origin), Shaun Escoffery (“River” & “Forgotten Man” from Strong Enough), China Moses (upcoming album), and Gregory Porter, as a co-writer of the lead single “Revival” from his latest Grammy-nominated All Rise. Other recent recording credits include Laura Mvula (Atlantic), and Chaka Khan (Island).

While ‘Look Up’ captures the richness of Oli’s solo and collaborative musical trajectory to date, the album was also deeply impacted by his other work at that time, and within the singular context of the global pandemic, including: a remote collaboration with Mister Barrington (Regenerate via P-Vine Dec ‘20), working as Songwriting Consultant supporting Gareth Malone in writing songs with key workers during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic (BBC’s “Britain in Lockdown”), and in his work as a music educator with masters songwriting students at ICMP, and as a Professor at Guildhall.