Oscar Lang is an indie pop prodigy and a pure product of his generation. He is a figure of the “bedroom pop” (micro) movement, this musical movement where young musicians connected to YouTube and Spotify produce records with extraordinary talent from their rooms. Dayglow in the United States enchants the world with its sunny good vibes. Its London counterpart, Oscar Lang, is more rock’n’roll.
Recorded in Liverpool in a month, Chew The Scenery, his first album, follows a series of mind-boggling EPs, including the excellent Head Over Your Head and Antidote To Being Bored. Oscar Lang, twenty-one on the clock, it’s a bit as if Liam Gallagher, Beck and Ty Segall had chosen to live together in one body. A rocky voice, which is sometimes disturbingly reminiscent of the timbre of that of the singer from Mancun, an overflowing energy and a talent for writing pop songs with heady choruses. Sacred mixture.
The Oscar Lang effect works at full capacity throughout Chew The Scenery, filled with high-end songs. The credit probably goes a little to the production of Rich Turvey, usual collaborator of The Coral and Blossoms. We find here its vintage and warm touch drawing the best of Britpop and 80s synth pop. But above all, the album retains great freshness and exudes generosity.
The pop nuggets follow one another with the right amount of power, groove and surprises to make the adventure exciting. The excellent 21st Century Hobby, I Could Swear and Stuck open hostilities with fanfare by summoning the minds of the greats of britpop, Blur and Supergrass in the lead. Further on, the superb Quarter Past Nine opens up new directions, with its psychedelic string arrangement, just like the stripped Final Call and especially Write Me A Letter where Oscar Lang shows, alone at the piano, that he does not need artifice to keep us hanging on his voice.
If he continues in this direction, there is no doubt that Oscar Lang will go very far. His chiseled melodies, his ability to express himself in different registers and his rock’n’roll energy have enough to rekindle the flame of indie rock in all hearts.
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