Oliv Oliv - Tehran Mountains (2025)

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