Romance

Olivia Ong

Feel About You

Bevlyn Khoo

Her work has been released in Japan, she has sung a theme song for the hit MediaCorp series, The Little Nyonya, and she is now releasing on home ground a new album of English and Mandarin numbers about love.

I am talking about Olivia Ong. And Bevlyn Khoo. In the Channel 8 drama, Ong crooned Like A Swallow and Khoo sang Keep Warm. Their approach here is similar in another key respect. Ong flexes her song-writing chops on an album of largely original material, while Khoo also composes several tracks on her record.

Compared to the ho-hum selection of cover material on Olivia (2010), Romance offers a dreamy and breezy range of material that is tailor-made for Ong’s sweetly charming vocals.

Let It Rain is, well, a sunny song that waltzes along prettily: “Let it rain, rain/It’s the perfect weather for contemplating/Let it rain, rain/For after such weather /Sunshine will come.”

When The Seas Run Dry And The Stones Go Soft, meanwhile, is gently epic in its ebb and swell: “With you in my heart, life is anchored/Even the wind won’t drift/Watch the seas run dry and stones go soft together, wait for the end of time/Love slowly, no need to rush.”

The constant switching between Mandarin and English takes a little getting used to but it certainly helps that the material is engaging. Ong even cuts loose on The Silly Song. The closing hymn, Amazing Grace, feels out of place though.

There are also cover tracks on Khoo’s offering: Saint Etienne’s Only Love Can Break Your Heart is heartfelt at a slowed-down tempo, but Duran Duran’s Ordinary World is merely pedestrian.

In her own songs, the sentiment is too bald at times. On the title track, she confesses: “Because I love you/Because I need you/Because I want you/And I absolutely hate to let you go.”

At least Call It A Day does something more interesting with the premise of a long-distance relationship: “I love you in the springtime/But you can’t warm my hands/I love to see your flowers/But not the delivery man.”

The three Mandarin tracks here are tacked on as a bonus but there is nothing throwaway about them. They include Keep Warm and Please Don’t Say, a bittersweet love song.

Bitter or sweet, love is in the air for both these songbirds.

(ST)