With his debut album, ‘Chew The Scenery’, Oscar Lang is proving just how far he’s come - but the journey is only just getting started.
Words: Jamie Muir. Photo: Jordan Curtis Hughes.
“I’ll be honest,” grins Oscar Lang. “I’ve no idea how on earth I’ve become a songwriter. I’m sure this shouldn’t be happening!” Cracking into laughter, it’s the perfect introduction to the fully-formed world of Oscar Lang. It’s one packed with an inextinguishable zest for life and technicolour moments that’s ultimately led to this very moment. One that understands the importance of what’s going on around it but searches for the joy in spite of it all. To dive on in is like falling into a swimming pool full of jelly beans.
“Fuck,” he says. “Younger me would be so fucking gassed at this all. He would be so amazed at how far it’s come.”
Since the very first moment he opened his box of bops (an actual trademarked thing, we promise), it’s seemed like the dawning of a new jukebox genius was a matter of when, not if. ‘Chew The Scenery’, Oscar’s debut album ‘proper’, is that exact moment. A wonderfully bold and warm release that takes you on a ride across the grandest fireworks and warmest campfires in equal measure, it’s bound to reach out exactly when you need it to. There’s something special about Oscar Lang, and ‘Chew The Scenery’ is undeniable proof.
Behind the sounds that move effortlessly from jubilant indie-stompers to mesmeric Beach Boys-esque pop with ease comes a record yearning to connect and a dreamer looking to make sense of the world. “It’s funny because my mates know me as a bit of a savage person, really, because I just cut around the bullshit,” explains Oscar. “I like to tell people how it is because I don’t like lying to people or messing them about. I think that comes through in the songs. I just want to be truthful and tell people how I feel, and I just hope that people can relate to it and feel better. I know personally when I’ve been going through my roughest periods, what makes me feel better is knowing that other people are going through rough shit too. Everybody goes through these things, and it’s just so important to recognise that. I just hope that something I do, big or small, can help someone.”
It’s the core next ingredient to the fun and all-encompassing energy Oscar Lang brings to the table. Songs packed with twisting turns cut through with tales that speak to the concerns and obstacles life in the modern world brings, whether it’s the pains of growing up, love, heartbreak, loss or loneliness (alongside a lot more). The result finds ‘Chew The Scenery’ as an album packed with unmistakable depth. As Oscar lays out, “this album was born out of me sort-of growing up, and I think in lockdown, a lot of people have had the time to think about themselves and things they’ve done - me especially. It’s about caring for other people and caring for yourself as well.”
This vital and vibrant heart should be no surprise for those who have followed Oscar since day one. With music flowing in his blood, there really was never a question that it would lead the way in every decision and move he made. From singing along with his Dad in his office to discovering piano through old keyboards played by his Grandad, or figuring out GarageBand at school, getting lost in making beats and sounds from the get-go; it’s fair to say that music has been there for Oscar for every high and every low. “It’s such a huge form of therapy for me. It really is,” says Oscar. “I have this desire when I feel really sad to pick up a guitar or go on my piano and play something, and I get lost in the music and shut myself off from the rest of the world. I will often sit there at night just playing piano, closing my eyes and getting lost.”
From YouTube covers to a fateful meeting with Beabadoobee, everything developed one after the other. Thriving with a determination and passion for what he was doing, every new step was one Oscar enthusiastically took. Producing and writing with some of the best doing it right now, Oscar’s remarkable run of EPs (including ‘Antidote To Being Bored’ and ‘Hand Over Your Head’) confirmed just how unstoppable his rise was going to be. They played an essential role in shaping the road to ‘Chew The Scenery’; ‘Overthunk’ proved to be a big turning point.
“Honestly, making ‘Overthunk’ - I really fucking struggled with that,” says Oscar, taking a pause as he remembers that time and how important the effects of it were to what came next for him. “I had been making music in my bedroom or from my bedroom for years without any formal training. That EP was the first time it felt like a real struggle to get things right, like recordings songs multiple times to get it right… and after that was the moment my manager was like, ‘let’s try a session with another producer and see how things go’.”
Teaming up with producer Rich Turvey in Liverpool proved to be a masterstroke. “I had a little bit of self-pride in that before I just wanted to impress people by ‘doing it all’. I wanted to make music because of people like Kevin Parker; that idea of ‘oh the guy in Tame Impala is just one person’ I saw as the fucking coolest thing. What a genius, now I want to be that person! It took its toll though on my mental health, and after meeting Rich, I was like - this guy gets me so much, he’s basically me just older!”
With a newfound freedom and helping hand to help execute Oscar’s vision, it helped form his final EP ‘Antidote To Being Bored’ and then, in turn, his debut album to come. Inspired to create heavier edges and more-punchy bangers (‘Stuck’, ‘Headphones’, ‘Yeah’) as well as more lush pop diamonds (‘Are You Happy?’, ‘21st Century Hobby’, ‘Quarter Past Nine’) and heart-wrenching ballads (‘Write Me A Letter’ and the jaw-dropping ‘Final Call’), the result is one of the most well-rounded debut albums from a songwriter in a long time. Bursting with ideas and recorded with some of his best mates in Liverpool, there’s a sense of collective power that only comes from a tight-knit band coming together.
“I remember turning up in Liverpool and feeling a little bit stressed,” Oscar says, “but then we locked ourselves in the studio and simply being somewhere else with my friends was just incredible. Like because of everything going on, I’d only seen them five or six times in a year and a half, so we actually got to spend time together and be there for one another. I think you can hear that come through on the album.”
It’s a long way from those early days forging away in his bedroom on GarageBand and sending beats around. “After getting songs together one by one, bit by bit - this time it was like, right: I’m getting in the studio for a month and a half. Lock me in there. Just get me in there. Let’s make some music,” he jumps. “It was the first time I’d spent that time making a whole project, and it was just sick. We got in there just out of lockdown, and it was me and my mates, and Rich - who cuts some quality banter, by the way! It was pure laughing the whole fucking time!”
‘Chew The Scenery’ is a dazzling reminder of a generation of artists bubbling away from the bedroom to the world and a sign in the ground that Oscar Lang’s milkshake of glorious indie-pop fun and stunning songwriting is primed to be more influential and impactful than ever. Always moving, there’s already talk of what comes next and where things could go from here. “Just going to keep becoming more of a rock star, right?!” laughs Oscar. “Seriously though, my main ambition really is just to keep changing my sound. I want to be known as someone that never stays in the same place. You’re always going to hear something different, something you didn’t hear before. That’s a big goal of mine - and maybe y’know, run a small label or studio or something.”
With a debut album like that, you can guarantee those are goals he’ll be seeing a lot more of. It’s a Lang way to the top if you want to rock and roll, but for Oscar Lang, he’s already there. Now time to bask in its sunshine.
Taken from the September 2021 edition of Dork, out now. Oscar Lang’s debut album ‘Chew The Scenery’ is out now.
