Olivia Wendel

• Folk
• Singer/Songwriter

Olivia Wendel is a singer-songwriter from a small town in Massachusetts. Her songs are observational and truthful, with honest experiences from her life woven into a dream-like indie folk pop landscape.

Olivia started writing songs at a very early age. In elementary school, she started her first band “Recess”, named for the only time they could meet to rehearse. She wrote songs about breaking rules and making up with friends after fights in the lunchroom.

When Olivia moved to New York City for college, she boldly sent voice memos of a few original songs to The Bitter End. The late Kenny Gorka booked her for a Monday night slot and approached her after the show, offering her another show if she came with more original material. The rest was history. Olivia has played all throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn since then, but The Bitter End will always be the place she got her start.

Olivia released her debut album “Windthrow” in early 2021 under Woolly Music. The album is a deep dive into Olivia’s upbringing in Massachusetts, exploring themes of family, loss, and change. She got the idea for the album while on a hike with her fiance’s family in upstate New York. After passing a fallen tree in the snow, Olivia started researching this natural phenomena and came across the word windthrow, defined as “the uprooting and overthrowing of trees by the wind”. Olivia recognized much of her experience growing up in this feeling. The songs off the album were born out of this concept, exploring Massachusetts themes with songs like “Stop & Shop” and “Skipping Stones”, a song taking place at Walden Pond.

In her own words, “I hope that people can hear something of their own experience in my album, be it in a melodic line, a lyric, or in the meaning behind the album. I want the listener to know that just like nature has a way of healing itself after destruction, there’s a way for us to do that too. For me a lot of my own healing came from writing this album and I hope for others that listening can provide a comfort to them. Especially in this time where it can feel lonely, I want people to know that I’m there with them and that we don’t actually experience anything in isolation. It’s all part of a cycle.”