Led by singer/songwriter, musician and visual artist Ofer Shoval, Brooklyn-based art rock outfit O. Wake formed back in 2019. Since then, Shouval has been writing songs that explore the anxieties and absurdities of modern life through witty vignettes and sweeping soundscapes. They’ve also quickly become a mainstay in the local scene, playing shows across Brooklyn, including opening for Atlanta-based post-punk outfit CDSM last May.
O. Wake’s latest single “Head in the Cloud” is a hook-driven bit of guitar jangle pope that reminds me a bit of Murmur-era R.E.M. but while rooted in a bitter and frustrated sense of disconnection and isolation that belies the song’s seemingly upbeat, danceable nature.
“The track is a critique of the ideology that promotes our need to feel ‘connected’ yet takes away our space to experience the real world, leading to life passing us by,” O. Wake explains.
The Brooklyn-based art rock outfit will be playing this year’s New Colossus Festival.