Olivier Esposito
Singer, Songwriter, Composer
Songs, stories, people and places
Some songs begin very close to home. Others grow from travelling, conversations or questions about our inner or wider worlds. Some may come from anxiety or dread, but I always try to shine a light and bring back our hearts in it.
The World Is An Island was born after listening to Pacific voices at COP25 and thinking about what climate change looks like when your country is an island, and what it means for all of us.
Other songs explore relationships, identity, disconnection, hope, movement and the difficult business of becoming more fully ourselves.
I am currently developing and recording new material while continuing to perform songs in their most direct form: voice, guitar and the occasional musical landscape around them.
Stories, encounters, places, questions, moments of change — my music often begins with something that stays with me long enough to ask for a melody. I often write because a tension rises in me that calls for resolution. To bring harmony back into my world.
Musically, I move between acoustic songwriting, folk, soul, groovy pop, a passion for guitar and more spacious, atmospheric textures.
The songs themselves tend to circle around connection and belonging, love and loss, social and environmental change, our relationship with the living world, our spirituality — and the possibility of imagining things differently.
Original Music
Songs that carry a story
Listen to The World Is An Island
Explore more songs
Composition for media
Music for other's stories
Commissions, Compositions, Collaborations
Most of my inspiration comes from encounters, and other people sharing their stories, their projects, their dreams.
I write and compose for people, artists and creative projects — from a song inspired by a personal story to music developed around words, images, a performance or a wider idea.
Sometimes that means writing alone from a brief, spoken words or a video. Sometimes it becomes a collaboration, with the story and music taking shape together. I love to explore the form, the texture and dynamic required by the story, whether it's a complete folk song, an ethereal soundscape, a gentle acoustic guitar, a funky rock band or an orchestral piece.
I am especially drawn to projects involving storytelling, human experience, social or environmental questions, creativity, spirituality and change. But I would also love to accompany you and write a song with you for your important moments in life !
Bespoke songs · Composition · Co-writing · Creative collaborations
Live Performances
Music shaped by the moment
Live, my music can move between songs and more intuitive, atmospheric forms.
Using guitar, voice, live effects and evolving soundscapes, I create sets that can remain quietly part of a place — or move towards a more intimate concert when the moment invites it.
No backing tracks. No fixed show that has to happen exactly the same way every night.
The surroundings, the people and the atmosphere are allowed into the music.
Create something Together
I am always interested in the point where music meets another story, discipline or way of seeing the world.
That may mean writing with another musician, creating something around a text or image, developing music for a performance, a workshop, a practice, or building a project that combines sound, story, visual art, wellbeing or social engagement.
Some of this collaborative work is developed with author and shamanic practitioner Lucie Aidart, with whom I have created performances combining spoken word, songs, intuitive music and participative practices.
If you have an idea that needs music — even if you are not entirely sure yet what form that music should take — tell me about it.
All content, text, pictures, music, copyright Olivier Esposito