Oliv Oliv
Tehran Mountains
Tracklist:
Side A
1. Remember my Name
2. Resonant Echoes
3. Sonic Dialogues
4. Homeland
Side B
5. Tehran Mountains
6. Lights of Valiasr
7. Reflecting Memories
Listen and order on bandcamp
Credits:
Music composition, production and mixing: Olivier Terpstra
Narration: Meshkat Talebi
Mixing: Bart Jilesen
Mastering: Wouter Brandenburg
Kamancheh: Soheil Shayesteh
Tar: Shayan Salimpour
Artwork: Francisco Baquerizo Racines
Spatialized in 4DSOUND at MONOM Studio, Berlin
Spatial sound engineer: Shehryar Ahmad
UE001
© 2025 Uncloud Editions
Supported by: SENA Muziekproductiefonds & Cultuurfonds
Made possible by the generous donations via Voordekunst
Booklet:
24 pages 148 x 105 mm booklet printed on 150 g/m²
PaperWise Natural, with a 226 g/m² cover
Photo page 11 taken by Meshkat Talebi
Photo page 18 taken by Sarah Vasen
Edition and design by Ines Kooli
Farsi translation by Mana Tashakorinia
Artist Biography:
Oliv Oliv (Olivier Terpstra) is a composer, producer, and sound artist whose work blends synthesis technologies with traditional acoustic instruments, field recordings, and storytelling. His music is inspired by cultural exchange and functions as a way to perceive fading memories. Oliv Oliv’s music moves between experimentation and poetic storytelling, making it a dynamic interplay between different sound cultures.
Born from years of collaboration with partner Meshkat Talebi, Tehran Mountains gives sound to conversations about Iranian history, the women’s life freedom movement, and the challenges faced by couples navigating different cultural heritages.
Meshkat’s narration in both Farsi and English shapes the album’s narrative arc, beginning with “Remember my Name” – inspired by Pouyan Moqaddasi’s poem “Khavaran,” referencing both “East” in Farsi and the burned cemetery of executed leftists from Iran’s dark 1980s chapter.
Featuring collaborations with Iranian musicians Soheil Shayesteh on kamancheh and Shayan Salimpour, the album merges traditional Middle Eastern instruments with contemporary composition. Oliv Oliv’s journey learning the oud becomes part of this reconnection process, its microtonal positions essential to preserving dissolving memories of a 2018 Iran visit.
Conceived during a residency at Berlin’s MONOM studio using 4D sound environments, “Tehran Mountains” captures the urgency of preserving connection across cultural and political distances – from Tehran’s endless traffic and fairy-tale street lights to the majestic mountains offering escape from urban intensity
The release will be available in vinyl, digital format, and as a printed booklet featuring poetry and physically altered photographs from Iran.
The booklet serves as a visual counterpart to Oliv Oliv’s album, documenting the cultural exchanges and personal connections that informed his and Meshkat Talebi’s collaboration. As memories blur and political barriers persist, these photographs serve as anchors to experiences that continue to resonate through image, poetry, and sound.
[Mockup design might contain differences with respect to the physical product]
Pre-orders are now available through our Bandcamp page. You can also head over there to listen to one of the seven tracks of the album and have a look at the various formats.
Reviews
“The title track moves from large, layered synthesis to delicate details with poetry and oud, while ‘Lights of Valiasr’ uses rhythmic beats and flickering textures to capture the feel of Tehran’s busy main street and its trees.”
“Not only is there experimentation with scales, but Meshkat’s soothing voice also brings the lyrics to life. Even though you don’t understand everything, it feels urgent. Like a message you have to (read: want to) decipher. Each track unfolds like a scene, effortlessly playing before your mind’s eye. Cinematic, but not in the supporting sense: no visuals are needed here to understand the story.”
— 3voor12 Rotterdam (in Dutch)
“Sonically, Tehran Mountains is dark, melancholic, and cinematic: tracks unfold like scenes, sometimes beginning in a dark place and slowly climbing toward hope. Examples on the album include an opening referencing a torched cemetery where political opponents were executed in the 1980s, and a track inspired by a woman playing a banned stringed instrument in an Iranian park—a small act of defiance that deeply affected Terpstra.”
— VPRO 3voor12 (in Dutch)
News
Tehran Mountains een album op VINYL — Voordekunst (in Dutch)
Oliv Oliv breaks boundaries with his debut album — Popronde 2025 (in Dutch)