FEATURES: Unicorn Kid

By MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
23 January 2010

'SOME people think I just make noise - but if you're old you probably won't get it," says Oliver Sabin of his hyperactive musical alter-ego Unicorn Kid.

A year ago, the Leith 18-year-old barely had an audience outside his own bedroom; now he is rubbing shoulders with pop royalty.

Having worked with the Pet Shop Boys and the Scissor Sisters, his brand of underground electronic music is winning plaudits from the very top.

"I started making electronic music when I was 15, messing around with the keyboard," says Oliver. "When I was 16 I started to develop Unicorn Kid.

"I wish I could say there was some great tale behind the name Unicorn Kid, but there isn't. It just popped into my head one day."

The likeable teenager recently graduated from Leith Academy, but while most of his classmates were poring over UCAS forms, Oliver has been travelling the country playing gigs. He currently has a contract with EMI.

But he still lives at home in Leith with his family - mother Michelle, a nursing home manager, and father Michael, a health care worker - who, he says, aren't particularly musical. "My mum is my biggest fan," says Oliver. "She's got one of my songs as the ringtone on her phone. My dad's been great as well. When I was trying to get my break my dad would drive me to gigs, stay overnight in a Travelodge and drive me home again. When I make my first million I'll spend it paying back his Travelodge bill," he laughs.

Oliver is the youngest of three. His oldest sibling Adele, 22, has just graduated from Edinburgh University, where she studied social policy.

Only his brother Josh, 20, shares his musical bent, currently studying music production at Napier University.

"We played in bands together when we were younger but I think the fact that both of us went into music was an accident.

"He's more interested in film and television scores, whereas I'm into electronica."

While his parents weren't particularly musical, it was their musical tastes that shaped his formative years.

He says: "The Pet Shop Boys were always on in the car when I was young, so I've always been a fan but I'm an even bigger fan now that I've played with them."

His biggest gig to date was playing alongside the 80s legends at Glasgow's SECC in December, but by that time he was already used to the big crowds.

"I had just returned from the USA where I was touring with an artist called Owl City," he goes on. "He pulled in crowds of around 3,000 people some nights, which was pretty nerve-wracking.

"I got involved with the Pet Shop Boys through a journalist called Peter Robinson. He suggested I remix one of their tracks."

Oliver's remix of their recent single Did You See Me Coming boldly strips out Chris Lowe's plain and rather repetitive synths and replaces them with his own hyperactive sound.

"The Pet Shop Boys are nice guys and it was amazing of them to give me the remix," adds Oliver.

Oliver has also been rubbing shoulders with Jake Spears from the Scissor Sisters.

"He came to my London show in June, and I met up with him. We just made small talk really."

Oliver's sound is known as "8-Bit" - frantic electronica created by antiquated devices such as children's Casio keyboards, first-generation Nintendo Game Boys or old tape-loaded home computers such as the Commodore 64.

"I've had some really positive responses to it from people like Huw Stephens [Radio 1] and particularly Vic Galloway [Radio Scotland].

Of the negative comments, some people think it's just noise but they don't understand it.

"Electronica is my sound so I'm not going to start interfering with it to appeal to a larger audience. I'm no sell-out!".