Listen: Oscar Dowling - Ease My Passing (UTR Premiere)

Back in June, New Gum Sarn alumni Oscar Dowling dropped his stunning solo single 'The Life', and now the Auckland-based musician has returned with new offering 'Ease My Passing' - which we are absolutely delighted to premiere here at UTR. The two tracks are set to feature on Dowling's debut album slated for release next year on Australian label Spunk Records, and features musical contributions from Will Wood and Steven Huf (Girls Pissing On Girls Pissing, Shab Orkestra) . Listen to 'Ease My Passing' while you read our interview with Dowling below...

Hey Oscar, so as with your earlier single, ‘Ease My Passing’ has some pretty grim lyrical themes. Can you share the meaning behind the track?

This song is about excessive comfort, and our obsession with technology making everything faster and easier and better. Not that I'm of the opinion that we should all go out and hunt our dinner, and gather firewood sporting plaid shirts and beards, but sometimes I feel like that guy Louis CK describes who is sitting next to him on a plane complaining that the WIFI he found out existed 5 minutes beforehand, isn't working. The world is crazy and it's easy to get swept up with the newest shiniest shit that has and an HD camera, can do the dishes and raise your firstborn child. Again, not that I dislike technology, Instagram is mint, but sometimes you gotta check yourself and go for a walk or look out the window. Anyway I wrote this song about a man in the future who looks like one of those people from Wall-E. He never has to get out of bed, machines do everything for him and all his friends are holograms. And then when he eventually eats himself to death, robots consume his body. I also write love songs.

Your songwriting definitely leans on the poetic side, what kind of space do you need to get into to put pen to paper?

I drive a lot and write most of my lyrics in the car. It's a good place to think and no one can hear you sing.

In terms of instrumentation, who is playing with you on this track and how does that work - do you figure out all parts or is it more of a collaborative effort?

Will Wood played the drums on this one and Steven Huf the bass. I came to them a week before recording with the songs and they figured out their parts. They are a total wrecking crew and made the whole album sound twice as nice as I thought it could.

Can you fill us in a little bit on your upcoming album and when we can expect it to drop?

We recorded with Ben Lawson at Red Bull studios and it's coming out through Spunk Records and Banished Music in March 2017. We are playing a show at 151 K Road on the 17th of December (Fuzzy Vibes) or in January at the Kings Arms with Mermaidens from Wellington if you wanna come check us out.