WL//WH New Music: OLIVER MARSON “Manipulator”

WL//WH New Music OLIVER MARSON

London-based artist Oliver Marson blends music from the 60s, 70s and 80s to create a catchy emotional-ridden baroque pop sound sprinkled with poignant and solemnly melancholic dark wave leanings.

This is ludicrous music for ludicrous times and satire for life in late capitalism.

Manipulator is the first track I recorded with Joshua Rumble (Black Country New Road, Clockworks) during the pandemic” explains Marson “It was also mixed by Jorge Elbrecht (Ariel Pink and Kirin J Callinan) who has been involved with some of my biggest influences. The track also features Christina Lopez who I play with in Empathy Test. When I made this I was very much inspired by the guitar sound of Drab Majesty, whose influence I am sure you can hear on this track.

Nihilistic lyrics mourn time lost to a meaningless existence whilst waking up numb, confused and unable to fight the hatred of oneself.

Led by steady hypnotic beats along with low humming drifting basslines, “Manipulator” stirs suffering, emotive moods through obsessively sparkling meandering guitar melodies to weave ethereal pain-filled gloom around evocative, heartfelt vocals rife with shame, remorse, and agony to plunge into a helpless sorrow of unforgiving dread.

Dramatic DIY video shot in an unused office building with the help of sister Chantal Marson in the Canary Wharf area of the UK dives into the dark side of perceived success by channelling the nostalgic 80s-90s vibes of American Psycho, Bright Lights Big City, and Donald Trump to depict the raging highs and lows invoked by living on the edge of a cut-throat lifestyle. Dim neon-lit red and blue dimensions shadow the melancholy, fear, and surreal dissociation of a Wall Street Banker whose bipolar mood swings betwixt somber introspections and ecstatic escapism to bring to light the over-inflated ego, insatiable desire, and ill-formed logic lying beneath the fragile surface of exposure, collapse, and ruin.

Keep up with OLIVER MARSON: