- Words Colin Graves
- Photography Freddie Stisted
- Styling Sean Baker Hunter
Nineteen-year-old south-west Londoner and Dirty Hit signee, Oscar Lang, likens himself to the record label’s “stoner cousin who comes over and rinses the food”. We catch up with the crooner in Notion 87!
Lang’s mother was a singer and after she sadly passed, music became a huge part of his life that has been a good coping mechanism for everyday life ever since. “I’m always trying to make things that don’t sound like the last thing I did,” says Lang of his music (he also produces for label mate beabadoobee), “Right now I’m in my psychedelia slash indie-pop phase. I try and keep it the same songwriting at the heart of it though, it’s just about dressing it up different.”
What’s the best thing about London?
If I’m being specific the Roehampton ASDA, near where I live, is the shit. I think it’s one of the biggest ASDAs
in the UK and it’s open 24/7, so nothing beats running round that bad boy at 3am frazzled beyond belief, experiencing the finest in modern-day consumerism.
Bedroom recording or studio?
Bedroom recording because of the simplicity and ease, and, in a weird way, the emotional vulnerability of it. When you’re at home you don’t have any guard up and I feel like it’s the most creatively free place. But I’m also a huge gearhead so a studio full of old tape machines and synths would also be blessed.
Is it important for you to do things DIY?
Definitely. I get a bit OCD about having a say in every aspect of my music. I guess because I’ve grown up making all the music myself I would find it super strange not to have creative control. When it’s time to record guitar parts that I can’t play, I’ll often sing out the riffs to my guitarist, Daniel.
Earliest musical memory?
Either dancing in the kitchen with my mum to The Feeling’s “Never Be Lonely”. or singing “Rich Girl” by Hall & Oates with my dad in his car and bursting into a fit of giggles when they said the word ‘bitch’.
Last time you cried and why?
I’ve been trying to get better at crying [laughs]. There was a good two year period where I didn’t cry. But the last time I cried was actually yesterday when I had a brief run-in with a couple of onions.
How was high school?
Mixed. I went to an all-boys Catholic school which wasn’t the most inviting environment for a quite camp 13-year-old Oscar who made Imagine Dragons covers on YouTube. In a weird way, it’s made me more confident now because the same people that took the piss out of me are now congratulating me for signing to Dirty Hit. So, fuck em.
What’s your star sign?
I’m a Taurus. May the Fourth be with you. I don’t even know, I’m not into that whole star sign shabang so I wouldn’t have a clue. If it means anything my GF and I have agreed that my spirit animal is a cat.
Have you ever broken the law?
Yes, I have. Bit of a rebel. Never done anything that bad but I do smoke the devils lettuce. Other than that I like to consider myself a perfect citizen.
What would you call your biog?
‘Everyday Anxieties’.
Do you remember the first song you wrote?
The first full song I remember writing was a song called “Is This Reality?” and was about having nightmares. Heavy stuff for an 11-year-old.
Favourite flower?
Either the classiqué Lilies or Dahlias.
What’s the most psychedelic experience you’ve ever had?
I took truffles in Amsterdam with my mates. I didn’t stop laughing for five hours and we all collectively bricked it over a statue of a man on a goat which we believed was cursed. We still try not to mention or look at photos of the goatman for fear the curse will return.