Oscar’s
debut is sun-drenched dream pop, with an interestingly inventive indie underbelly. Cut and
Paste is a beautiful record, although one that, for all its sheen, has a
melancholic core. The clean guitar sound
sometimes slides into darker distortion (see ‘Daffodil Days’), but, elsewhere, floaty keyboards take the lead (‘Gone Forever’). This is a debut that has ambition, but its
key strength is its accessibility: a number of these songs stick in the head
and get hummed unexpectedly on commutes.
Oscar’s voice isn’t the
strongest – more vocal range would have helped lift this further – but the song-writing is
really strong. The lead single
‘Beautiful Words’ sums the record up well: catchy and (yes) beautiful,
but with a deeper, darker core than is immediately obvious.
sample track: Beautiful Words