Despite basking in the kind of widescreen production stylings more commonly found among artists of the American Midwest and West Coast, OK Doomer is the musical pseudonym of South London born songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lou Doyle. Following on from debut single Rivers Cuomo, named after the Weezer lead singer, OK Doomer is back with his new single, From A Chiringuito.
Recorded across London and Hamburg by Tonmeister Hannes Plattmeier, From A Chiringuito is designed to ‘unfold like a time-lapse’. Opening with a softly repeating piano chord, the song unfurls beneath Doyle’s earthy vocal. Scattered percussion creeps, like plants pushing through cracking tarmac, testing for weakness. Guitars come to the fore, before receding once more, and Doyle sings of dilapidated houses and satan.
The whole piece feels like a natural step forward from Rivers Cuomo, which was atmospheric rather than cinematic. The resulting evolution, here on From A Chiringuito, lands the listener somewhere between Thom Yorke, Stufjan Stevens and Bon Iver. It’s a tantalising vision of where OK Doomer might go, given the breadth of a full album.