De akoestische versie van ‘She’s Mine’ is live opgenomen op een boot op de Evan’s Bay Parade in Wellington, Nieuw-Zeeland. Een samenwerking tussen Thomas Oliver en de Londense neo-soul en jazz muzikant, Ashton Sellars.
Thomas: “The musical energy between friends is something special, but I think something else that made this recording striking is the fact that Ashton and I have a real respect for each other’s craft and dedication to it, so the way we play off of each other carries that. Ashton is an incredible guitar player, so I really wanted to have him shine, so the last solo was always going to be his. There’s a rawness to the whole thing which I’m happy to have captured, and to me it captured not just the performance, but a good day of hanging with a friend in our home city.”
De andere drie toevoegingen aan de Deluxe Edition werden opgenomen in Berlijn. “I love the album version of Amsterdam Bender, but some songs speak in a different way when you expose more of the song in its barest form, and to me the acoustic version of Amsterdam Bender captures the magic of its story in slightly richer way. The song was written as a birthday present for my Dutch girlfriend, about the first weekend we ever spent together. I sent her an iPhone recording of the song on her birthday, and that’s all I ever intended it to be, but as it turned out, I liked the song so much that I recorded it for The Brightest Light. And now it’s on it twice!”
Over zijn nieuwste album vertelt Oliver:“I wanted to write music that felt new to both me and my fans, and I wanted to be inspired by a crazy environment and a new life. So I moved to Berlin, Germany, and set up a studio soon after completing a 19-date European tour. Berlin is unconventional, colourful, and sometimes challenging, which is what made it the perfect place to base myself while I wrote this music. I started writing songs as soon as I touched down; I couldn’t help it. I was listening to a lot of Gary Clark Jnr, Son Little and Amos Lee at the time, and those shades are definitely evident throughout. I was also meeting people, checking out live music, and immersing myself in the mellow madness that is Berlin.”
Samen met de Deluxe Edition van het album brengt Thomas Oliver ook een nieuwe video uit voor de akoestische versie van ‘Amsterdam Bender’.
