Olivia is a ghost

Olivia is a ghost is a post-punk, shoegaze band formed in Spain in 2019 that rose from the ashes of heartbreak and found new life on the streets of Dublin.

Formed in Madrid by María and Marcos when they were just 21 and 22, Olivia is a ghost began as a studio-backed dream. As a four piece, the band toured internationally, performing their EP People talking at the movies at festivals and venues across Spain, Portugal, Italy, the UK, and the United States.

Their songs - deeply lyrical, political and emotionally raw, with lyrics that speak of antifascism, feminism, mental illnesses and the climate crisis - quickly resonated with a young underground audience, drawn to their atmospheric soundscapes and unfiltered vulnerability.

But like many bands, Olivia is a ghost was deeply impacted by the pandemic. Financial strain and problems with their management forced them to disband in 2021.

They released Bees are dying, their first studio album afterwards without expecting to be able to tour it - following the crisis that the music sector suffered -, and what followed was four years of silence. And then, unexpectedly, reinvention.

María moved in 2023 to Doonbeg, County Clare, Ireland and began busking on the streets of Dublin and the Open Mic scene, performing new solo material under the name of María María María. Until one day, her acoustic guitar broke in the middle of a set on Grafton Street. With the coins she'd earned, she walked into a local music shop, and instead of fixing her guitar, a chance conversation with a store clerk about loop pedals led her to discover a model with built-in drums. She bought the pedal plus an electric guitar and in that moment, the vision was clear: Olivia is a ghost could live again.

She rebuilt the sound of Bees Are Dying so she could perform the album on her own, programming the loops, drums, synths, and basslines, and rehearsing every day using Grafton Street as her stage. In 2024, Olivia is a ghost reemerged as a one-woman band in Cork at Fred’s Zeppelin’s “Battle of the Bands”, and supporting Sister Ghost on the Dublin date of the “Beyond the Water” tour.

They reformed the band alongside Rory Lahart (drums), aiming to pick up where they had left off and finally take Bees Are Dying on tour.

Today, Olivia is a ghost is both a performance and a statement: that music doesn’t need industry permission to reach people’s hearts. From late-night rehearsals on Dublin sidewalks to crowds dancing in the rain, their return is a living testimony to the power of connection, resilience, and starting over.

Above all, Olivia is a ghost is about punk, storytelling, vulnerability, and the radical act of showing up, no matter what.