Oswald Slain - Bucky 
Release Date: Out Now
Bristol's Oswald Slain have completed their metamorphosis from previous incarnation Little Thief and taken flight into the sunlight with their debut album, 'Bucky'. The trim eight song collection opens with 'Cranberry Juice', a half slurred, half crooned Elbow-esque end of the night tune sprinkled with piano notes and glitterball light in equal measure. 'Happiness Is Overrated' gets the party started in earnest with a ballsy guitar sound, loose beat and Joe Cocker rivalling vocals from frontman Charlie Fitzgerald singing the kind of chorus that was written to be sung back by festival crowds.
The punchy and melodic indie of 'Firing Line' is prime radio fodder with scratchy guitars, slathered organs and the kind of sweeping strings that make you want to fall in love for the weekend. That organ sound grows in confidence on 'Terrible Neighbour' with a blend of the Kinks' storytelling and Dodgy's everyman melodies making this a classic in waiting. Former single 'Have You Got What You Came For' brings the bass to the fore with a slinky, swaggering track that gives strong main character energy as well as the kind of rock'n'roll confidence we've been missing in recent years.
Title track 'Bucky' is world weary as the strummed guitar and louche beat of Rhii Williams paint a picture of discarded clothes and discarded plans piled up on a Sunday morning. 'Golden Years' takes us down memory lane with a Haight-Ashbury sound filling the room like smoke and intoxicating your senses before you know what you're breathing in. Oswald Slain sign off with 'Until Next Time...', a melting pot of a song that takes elements of Richard Hawley, Johnny Cash, Pulp, the Verve and Cast before creating a slice of something delicate and beautiful in its own right. This feels like a starter for ten, a first draft or an initial sketch by masters of their craft and we are lucky to have it but I think there's more to come because this is a band with space to move into and ideas still to be dreamed up. And I, for one, can't wait for that.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/OswaldSlain
Live Dates:
6th November - Album Launch @ The Jam Jar, Bristol w/Pigeon Wigs