Something alien within the self and feeling unfamiliar in the world
Whenever we encounter something uncommon, new and most of the time alien to our conformity, we get this strange sense of exhilarating electricity floating through our system. A sense of alienation within the self, best captured and sprinkled with extravagant alternative pop by the Austrian band Oh Alien. Fresh off the release of their new album 'What We Grow', the band reinstated the connection between their music and the world around them.
“In the music of our new album ‘What We Grow’, we are dealing with the "micro crisis of the mid-20s"- even though they can probably appear at any age. The album is about troubled relationships and love, big dreams and expectations versus the reality, overworking and stress. Beneath it all is a huge desire to be alive with every fibre of one’s being. We like the metaphor that every person has a wild garden within the self, and our album reflects on how to tend to one’s inner garden in a way that such becomes a home.”
The core of their creativity lies in deep introspection of one’s self, drawing inspiration for their songs from a sense of alienation, both within themselves and their life experiences.
“The name Oh Alien is a reference to something alien within the self and feeling unfamiliar in the world. Many of the songs we write and produce are contemplative, about dealing with the unknown in one’s soul, trying to figure out the self with all its corners and complications and make it a home.”
Such sentiment can be found in the track ‘The Show’, which reflects on how our younger self is harboured by unrealistic expectations and ideals of what life should be like. Hidden in a mist of what-ifs and unconditional wondering until we understand that life is made of little but necessary steps, of a little give and a little take, compromising with our minds and souls.
“At the same time as a band, we experience a sense of alienation in this capitalist world that is melting away through climate change, that is full of war and sadness. This general feeling of strangeness and the strangeness of the human species is also at the core of our songs.”
'The Dream' perfectly captures this restless need for self-improvement our society tries to seep into our mentality.
This introspective journey subsequently exudes in their music, filled with infectious bass lines, confident drums and intimate but at the same time punctuating vocals. There is an underlying sense of freshness in their sound, something not entirely fit to be defined, which is a concept quite close to them.
“If we think about culture, we cannot merely define it as one simple thing. It can be a place for people to express themselves and a common understanding of certain values connected to the mind, the arts, and creativity. It can also be a political and social collective. Culture always comes with certain mannerisms that stand in accordance or rebellion with something ‘mainstream’. In our society, there is a constant effort to define culture as a closed-off and rigid entity, but we like to think of it as something more fluid, impossible to pin down.”
Their most sincere hope, both on a creative and personal matter, lies in influencing this culture by encouraging the listeners to treat themselves and others with care and compassion.
“We believe that as humans, one of the most challenging but important things is to hold a level of complexity, a certain ambiguity of feelings, without creating simplifications all the time. In our music and lyrics, we are trying to do just that. Even though it is challenging, letting something simply exist within the layered human existence.”
Humanity is at the core of their artistic personality, taking small pieces from each component to create art. No one is defined by a role or such, they explain: “We are a collective, and somehow that is rare. When we were working on the album with our producer, Sixtus Preiss, he kept mentioning how confused he was about the way we make decisions. Typically, in a band, each individual has a specific role, but not with us - we are all songwriters, producers, and arrangers. We have been making music together for eight years, so we know each other very well, musically and personally. We grew and learned a lot from each other. When we made the album, we felt like we had found a sound that was, to us, unexplored and fresh.”
The feeling they get from songwriting and performing is their driving force, creating this output of emotions and experiences that gives them as much as it takes from them. They want to establish a bone-deep human connection through their art, concocting a world where everyone is free to enter with what they hold in them or feel, knowing that no matter what, they will always find a profound and genuine sense of familiarity with their music.
Follow oh alienCover photo by Paul Vincenth Schütz