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16 May 2016| Originally published on The Flux Presents

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Oscar could be just another art school hipster. His video for “Sometimes” displays an elderly Lawn Bowling Club, as if to say ‘Old people! Ha. They’re like, so vintage’. But in one staggering drum line, you immediately fall for the pulsating rhythm of this opening track, and, via songs of nostalgic dandiness, are led to some truly powerful pieces.

“Sometimes” demands you dance around and feel bohemian (“like you”). Fitting withOscar’s drone “pick me up and let me go”, off the cuff cymbal beats are cockily caught right before the edge. Buzzing synth drives the track forward, sliced by riot girl sing along vocals, just the right side of annoying.

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This soaring upliftment returns with “Beautiful Words”, while the bulk of the album balances dazey summers with quiet regret. Marika Hackman, master of brooding vocals over buoyant tunes, is a perfect collaborator on “Only Friend”. While “Be Good” sees a smokey Latin infusion, smoothly oscillate with a video game chorus. At times the album does slump though. “Good Things” flatly boasts try hard minimalist verses and a chorus that sounds like a drug addicts Christmas carol.

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Oscar’s brilliance re-emerges in “Breaking my Phone”. A sulky grunge, reducing his unrequited love to a fracturing, factual denial of his need for sympathy. While a harmonising choir and his distant megaphoned voice is enough to keep any Gorillaz fan enthralled.

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Following this angst, “Daffodil Days” comes in like soft milk, bursting open in strong catastrophic release. With repeated “ah ahs” emerging throughout, a gentle permanence holds you through a feeling of inevitable loss.

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It is in these tracks that you see Oscar’s true talent. The raw emotion in these songs grip him above the slurdge of disappointed unattainable dreams, and ground him in mature human emotion. He goes far beyond a fun, fashionable hipster, and appears as a talented artist able to capture complex human emotion in catchy summer tunes.

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Verdict: 3.5