While learning to play the cello at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Oliver Coates pieced together his best works until his graduation. Even more interesting is that he has not just filled the Royal Albert Hall with his classical talent; he has also flirted with experimental pop music. He played a significant role in the creation of Radiohead’s “A Moon Shaped Pool” and was involved in Mica Levi’s soundtrack to “Under The Skin.” Together they even released a collaborative album last year. He has also released his own album “Upstepping.” The cover accurately describes the atmosphere: A set of stairs, missing a railing on the left side, zig-zags in the direction of Heaven. Underneath, the ocean captures the reflection of a fragmented sky and at the end the stairs meet a strangely shaped house – or maybe something completely different. His music recalls that of Arthur Russell, the renowned cellist who passed away early due to AIDS and made the instrument cool again post mortem. However Coates is not just a replica of Arthur Russell. His experimental sound extends to electronic music, House, Techno and Noise in minute-long loops. Why this combination of opposite sounds, classical and electronic, works so well for him in comparison to other musicians is that he does not, in fact, combine them at all. He respects the story that each note tells. A+ for Coates.