Review: Olivia Dolphin brings the house down with ‘All the Time We Spent’ EP

Olivia Dolphin comes in just under the wire for year-end list consideration. All the Time We Spent hits you like an avalanche of vocal power, lyrical mastery, and caramel sonic bliss. “Cross” eases the listener into a hypnotic trance, as she begins fluttering like a bird before lifting off the ground for a heart-pummeling moment in the air. The song and performance bear a striking resemblance to Brandi Carlile’s “The Story.” Dolphin appropriately takes her time with the melody, her signature approach, which marks most of the EP.

All the Time We Spent funnels what she calls the “small magics” of life into the fabric of the project. “It’s the last dreg of brine from a dirty martini, the jam-stained crumbs on a charcuterie board, the text from the person you wanted to hear from most,” she says in a press statement. There’s a certain enchantment that courses throughout the five songs, from the velvety “I… I…” to the pitter-patter of “Lost.” “I’ve read my horoscope / It’s everything I fear,” she laments on the latter. Feeling immensely aimless after a breakup stretches like elastic over the song’s bare bones. The past ricochets on everything in her life and stops her in her tracks from ever moving on.

Olivia Dolphin’s All the Time We Spent arrives as a statement-making collection. Bookender “Storm Warning” causes utter destruction (complementary), with Dolphin toying with vein-injecting tempo. It leaves the listener on a high note; the only complaint that could be possible is: “We want more.” Both brittle and sinewy, her latest EP makes a bid for one of 2025’s best. It’s evocative in all the right ways and gives her an undeniable chance to light the sky on fire.

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