London based producer Ollie Dickson produces “sounds from the void” -- exploring his internal and external headspace through a narrative arc, while daring to explore lengthy structures - under the name OILS. Using his collection of analog & digital synthesizers, drum machines, samplers, guitars and percussion, his music blends 90's ambient electronica with his love of 70's & 80's grimy cinema noir staples and fantasy animations.
Debut album “Between Voids” (2020) featured a spacey, ambient, lo-fi soundtrack aesthetic, and incorporated sounds from budget and toy synthesizers shared by Van Elst and himself in their shared studio garage.
“Noodles” EP (2021) was compiled in collaboration with comic artist Jake Machen, with music being written in response to his drawings and vice versa. It brought in more ambient influences from Jon Hassell’s “Fourth World” and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s more playful earlier work.
His followup album effort "Earthly Vistas" (2023) moved further away from the earlier more pulpy sci-fi sound from his debut and brought forth a more sophisticated expansive sound. A heavier weight was given to audio processing and sound design as supposed to the raw synth sound of the earlier work.
With the releases so far, he’s found flavour among fans of ambient, electronic, IDM and psychedelic genres, garnering to date 1 million + streams on Spotify and with 5000 + followers across Meta platforms, Youtube and Soundcloud. A third album is currently close to completion and set for release late-2025.