Image by Capucine Merlant-Pilonchery //

The Oogars deal out a warm wave of psychedelic enchantment.

Are you familiar with the work of Byron Bay quartet The Oogars? It’s difficult to describe the sounds they produce – which they’ve been serving up and down the East Coast since 2018 – as anything other than kaleidoscopic. Picking the best parts of surf, garage and Middle Eastern melodies and combining them in a hazy cauldron, they seem hell-bent on avoiding being easily categorised, and we’re bloody loving it.

Today’s release, ‘Girl In The Mirror’ sucks us right in from the first hit of the toms as the group slowly builds on jangly guitars, adding some spacey leads and a tidy bass line. It’s dreamy, dark and addictive, and we haven’t even heard the vocals yet… Hitting us with breathy but powerful lines, reminiscent of Jefferson Aeroplane’s Grace Slick, we’re mesmerised by the tale of dissociation and sliding door moments.

“It’s an expression of being trapped in a life that no longer suits the person you have evolved to be”, explains Gemma Owens, who sings lead vocals on the track. “Things and people change all the time, so it’s a reminder to come back to self, to live a life that is fulfilling and break free of the things that no longer serve you”.

The accompanying video, which was directed by Millicent Notman, sees the girls take on hyper-stylised and undesirable versions of themselves. Here, the ghosts of Oogars’ future go about their mundane and vapid lives before revolting in a whirr of trippy imagery and sponge cake. It’s a fittingly off-kilter version of reality that syncs nicely to the moody energy that the track radiates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IpkalJNJ5g

‘Girl In The Mirror’ is out on Third Eye Stimuli tomorrow and is part of a forthcoming four-track EP. Dig in.

Artwork by Emily-Grace Lawlor //