Artist: oh?no!ok.
Song: “Saw Her First”
Album: Randy Warhol (or Something) (Release date TBD)
Genre: Pop Punk, Slacker Rock, Indie
Tuneful and rambunctious slacker rockers oh?no!ok. are looking to launch their own musical movement from their hometown of Salt Lake City. Mixing the early 90’s alt rock sound that permeated college radio in those days with cleaner, modern production, the band focuses their lyrics on “themes and narratives that illustrate society’s vices, cynicism, and the lies that we tell ourselves to avoid confronting our insecurities and depression.”
One track that caught my ear and dragged it closer to the speaker was “Saw Her First”. The opening guitar riff sounds like a distorted, slacker version of a country riff, until vocalist Ryan Osborn plows right in with “I saw her at the mall, know I didn’t have the balls, and walked the other way instead”, leading to a narrative where our hero injures himself and then has his dream girl by his side as the ambulance comes, giving him an inflated sense of himself and claim to her. Though he acknowledges “even though we’re not a thing, and she don’t even know my name”, “he saw her first” so he has dibs. The clever track is a dig at male entitlement, all over catchy, raucous riffs, spazzy keyboards and angelic background harmonies.
Take a listen in our Check This 2020 Playlist!
The Indy Review 