The history of Ollin begins in late 2005. Radek Kordasiewicz (multi-electronic musician and guitarist from Poland) and Juan R. Leon (flutist, bassist and Chapman Stick player) from the United States started a file-sharing collaboration accompanied by massive e-mail correspondence. Aiming to explore ambient and progressive rock, the band soon released its first track online, entitled "The Ocean Wave". In the meantime, Juan came up with an idea for the name of the project: Ollin means "movement" in Aztec and it was a perfect choice for the ever-changing and endless formula of the band's continuing explorations.After releasing "The Ocean Wave", the pair spent some time working on various multimedia efforts for another of Radek's projects called MusicWordArt. With this experience under their belts they went on to record their first full-length album titled "Never Forget" and released on March 23rd, 2007. The album saw the first appereance of Ollin's new collaborator, the saxophonist Janusz Kruszelnicki.
Even if the mood was a continuation of the "Ocean Wave" atmosphere, the album demonstrated what would eventually become an important characteristic for Ollin in their forthcoming efforts. "Never Forget" contained ambience, improvised music, noise and everything in between. The band moved effortlessly between these genres and continued in this vein for a long time.
Another example of this trend was "La Mort En Ce Jardin", the band's first EP, which was released even before the first album had seen the light of day. Recorded with a guest appearance by bassist Marco Rodi, the mini-album revealed yet another side to Ollin, with roots in club, new jazz and tropical/jungle sounds. The EP was later deleted from the catalogue according to Radek's wishes.Shortly after the release of 'Never Forget' Radek started to write down ideas for another Ollin album. He gave it the nickname of "The Opium Trail", after the title of a song of the same name which had been recorded by the Irish band, Thin Lizzy. The initial demo recordings were made in Summer 2007 with Juan's work expected to follow in the Winter of 2007/08. Before any new file sharing or recordings were made, Juan decided to resign from Ollin due to both personal and artistic reasons that were stated in a resignation letter published on the band's websites on February 14th, 2008.After that a new line-up was formed. Reed Hayes, a drummer and long-time friend and collaborator of Juan, replaced the former American member. Coupled with these brand new elements, the plan was to include spoken word for "The Opium Trail" and Troy Southgate, a vocalist from England who was already active with H.E.R.R. and Seelenlicht, took on the role. Later on the process the band was joined by Bill Forth, known for his latest solo work. The album was released on March 22, 2010.
