Literary Crime

Film and literary influences have long had an impact on the musical style of many bands, and for The Oyster Murders, one need only look as far as Alice In Wonderland to gain a quick understanding of their cinematic dream-pop style.

“That's to do with the walrus and the carpenter story within the book. It's actually like a poem within the book; the walrus and the carpenter, they lure these little oysters away from their mother and then they eat them. They kill the poor little oysters and that's the oyster murders I guess,” vocalist/guitarist Grant Redgen explains, also citing the influence of the sci-fi genre and the works of Philip K. Dick. “It's a very layered sort of music I suppose at times and a bit slower than the indie pop that's happening a lot at the moment. We take a little bit of a slower approach to some stuff and [add] more atmosphere…”

After honing their craft on the scene for a few years, The Oyster Murders are finally unleashing their first record proper, Winter Of The Electric Sun, in a release schedule that has thus far only featured a few slap-dash singles exposed via online channels.

“We thought, 'Let's just make an album. Why goose around with a bunch of EPs and singles, lets just get to it!'” Redgen admits. “[We're] in an age where it doesn't seem like it's the logical progression in some ways, but it's more about what you want to do as well.

“We spent on and off time over the last year or so at Applewood, going out there and tracking, and having sessions, then going back home and saving money, and going back and recording again. It's still a very expensive process, recording an album, but it's been worth it and it's been great fun working with Magoo,” Redgen says, noting a special guitar effect unit that caught his attention. “It had these white stickers on it and I asked him, 'What's that from?' and he said it was from when Radiohead came over for the Hail To The Thief tour and they hired the space echo off him and they used it, and when he got it back it still had these little white stickers where they had their settings on it. And I was like, 'Okay, we're using that!'”

The fantastical element also extends across many of the album's lyrics, which are given further depth considering Redgen shares the vocalist role with his wife Wendy. In The Sleeper's Heart, they tell the story of a couple whose house is burning down; one half of the pair is forced to labour over the decision of whether to wake the other to experience the horror of impending death, or let them sleep through the fire.

“You can work off that… emotional dynamic being a husband and wife and have lots of fun with that kind of thing. I guess because we're both influenced by David Bowie and the character sort of music…”

With their sights set on New York's CMJ Music Marathon in October, The Oyster Murders are firstly excited to be launching Winter Of The Electric Sun in Brisbane this week, giving away a free copy of the record to all who attend the performance.

“Being a hometown [show] we wanted to share our record with everybody who comes and celebrate it because it's such a journey and a lot of people within the local scene have helped us along the way. It's just fun to share your music; it's fun to have people listen to it and hear it and I think that's the goal, to try and get it out there as much as possible.”

The Oyster Murders will be playing the following east-coast shows:

Thursday 30 August - Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane QLD
Thursday 6 September - FBi Social, Sydney NSW
Thursday 27 September - The Grace Darling, Melbourne VIC