Oyama ‘Handsome Devil’

Olivia here. This morning I read an interesting article about a man who was lost in the wilderness for 27 years – but unlike most people who get lost, his retreat from the outside world was fully intentional. At 20 years old, Christopher Knight left his family and job in Massachusetts without so much as a note, and drove North until his car ran out of gas. With just a few snacks and a tent, he walked into the woods, and was not seen again for over a quarter of a century, until he was arrested for stealing food from a family’s log cabin. Speaking to a journalist after his incarceration, he said ‘I was never lonely. If you like solitude you are never alone’. Although this case is extreme, and I wouldn’t recommend that anyone talks off into the wild any time soon, there is something to be said for spending a bit of time to yourself now and again. If you do, make sure you stick on ‘Handsome Devil‘ by Reykjavik band Oyama. Currently touring the UK with Foxing and Fog Lake, the band’s latest release is a brooding soundscape-turned-pop-song, with euphoric synth swells, thrashing guitar, and unusual harmonic progressions. Sung in eerie chant-like vocal harmony, the track concerns  ‘finding yourself in an environment that is beyond your grasp of understanding‘ and ‘trying to make sense of it and coming to terms with your existence within the space you occupy‘ according to Oyama guitarist Úlfur Einarsson. Something I’m sure Christopher Knight knows all too well.