Oscar O’Shea Almost Gave Up On Music For A ‘Real Adulthood’, But One Fortuitous Encounter Altered His Course

Oscar O’Shea is a lutruwita/Tasmanian based singer-songwriter, who grew up in the northern city of Launceston. As a child he surrounded himself with words, accumulating in the form of poetry and creative writing, which eventually merged into a songwriting practice.

Despite his engagement with this creative expression, external societal pressure to graduate high school, accrue a university degree and mould a realistic career diffused the light for O’Shea. 

Yet this formulaic life manifested unfulfillment, and left the musician with a nagging what if, surrounding a life spent sharing music. But one chance encounter with renowned music producer John Castle twisted fate in a way that O’Shea was always destined for.

As a result, O’Shea has recorded and released the single Redemption, with another single Lost The Light released today, Friday August 15, all under the guidance of Castle. 

This all comes ahead of his impending EP release entitled Last Lights & Lost Meaning, a collection of work inspired by the expectations of society that directed O’Shea away from his deep truth.

O’Shea spoke to me from a dimly lit room about the undulations of his relationship to music, a layer of metaphor in of itself, as the natural light beaming through a nearby window faded as our conversation progressed.

“I always liked words,” proclaimed O’Shea. “I remember being a kid and writing poetry about random things, like what I had done on the weekend. That was my first introduction to writing, and then I always found the process really interesting. I did some creative writing through school, but I like metaphors a lot.

“I find metaphors really, really interesting. And one of the things I love about music is when I can grasp every element about what that person's experiencing through a song for three minutes. If it encapsulates what it looks like for them and if it can encapsulate what it felt like too, that’s what I aspire to create in my music.”

And O’Shea does just that in Lost The Light. With a driving rhythm guitar section and lyrics that utilise the analogy of ships getting lost in the darkness of night. It’s this aspect of his story, whereby the light went out momentarily, only to be reminded of not giving up on one’s dreams and passions for the sake of adhering to conventional narratives.

“I went to a school where people push university a lot and pushed a very traditional way of moving through life,” O’Shea acknowledges. “There was an emphasis on getting real and thinking about the future with a career in mind.

“I started studying a teaching degree, because I felt the pressure to find something that was going to make me a salary. I really put music on the back burner at that time. During university though I was gigging a bit, which was amazing to be able to get paid to play live, even though it was mainly acoustic sets in the background type thing.

“And then when I was three-and-a-half years through that four-year degree, I decided I really didn’t want to be a teacher. I’d never given myself any time to think about what I wanted out of life or who I was without the expectation of education and the structure that comes with that.”

And yet what has remained true to O’Shea is a sense of honouring authenticity, of maintaining honesty and genuineness.

“So I pulled out of uni,” says O’Shea. “I worked in hospitality in Launceston and I played in a band with some friends of mine that we called Project Sonic. That band was a very different type of music – a bit more experimental – which gave me an ability to write differently.

“After a while I got this job that I'm in now which is working in government. I really enjoy it, but it was my first full time job. I conceded that was it, that this is just the way it goes. I said to myself ‘I'll just go and do this thing that everybody tells you that you should do.’

“Some time passed and I got asked at the last minute by Junction Arts Festival to play a show,” he adds. “It prompted me to write a few more songs really quickly and pull together a couple of my friends to perform. I recall performing and feeling so good, experiencing that moment and realising music isn’t something I wanted to be detached from.”

It was fortuitous moments like this, as well as deciding to spark a conversation with revered producer John Castle at the restaurant O’Shea was working in, that affirmed his conviction in knowing that music was his calling.

“I really didn’t want to let go of the feeling of connectedness to myself and to the songs,” he says. “I wanted to share what I felt compelled to say, knowing that people wanted to listen.  

“It was around this time when I was working at a restaurant in Launceston and I saw John Castle dining there. I was thinking about going up to him for a while and eventually I just decided to go over and say hi. 

“I literally just said to him, ‘You can tell me to fuck off and if this is weird but I’d be keen to do some work together,’” O’Shea recalls. “He was really chill and just gave me his number. I called him and after some back and forth we ended up doing some work in his studio in November last year. 

“He has a really unique and powerful skill of finding the song exactly where it's working and then helping you build that world around that song for it to be beyond where you hoped it could be.”

The result of their collaborative efforts is Last Lights & Lost Meaning, which is scheduled for an October 10 release. Latest single Lost The Light is described by O’Shea as being one which sees him recognising the parts of him which are out of reach and his desperation to get them back.

“The song has a strong connection with lutruwita and how it can feel living in a valley through the winter when you lose the sun early and get it back later than you remember,” he explains. “It recognises the loss of connection one can feel when they ignore their internal honesty and let go of themselves. 

“It's about sitting in that space and letting it wash over you as you sit down in the valley and wait for the heaviness to pass.”

O’Shea’s story contains many layers, as it has been elevated by a support system that has afforded him belief and encouragement in varied ways over the years. And yet the learning in it all emerges through the way O’Shea has refused to let his creative gift not be drowned out by the noise of a culture and society that heavily undervalues the arts. 

Instead, there resides an empowering tale of honouring oneself in the most honest and genuine manner possible.

Oscar O’Shea’s Lost The Light is out today, while his Last Lights & Lost Meaning EP is scheduled for release on October 12.