Oscar Dowling, who are you? I want to know more about you and how you've come to make such a gorgeous song. I know there's got to be more of your work out there somewhere. The other night, I was browsing Reddit and I saw a post on the first page simply stating something along the lines of "I am 19 years old and this is my EP. Please give it a listen." I clicked on the link and as soon as I started listening I was floored.

The link led me to Oscar Dowling's Soundcloud track of "Trading Hemispheres." It's a simple song but it's so lush and convicting. You can't help but sit still and listen intently as Oscar speaks (or rather, sings) his mind. With just an acoustic guitar, a violin and an underlying single beat of a drum, Oscar's raspy, heart-wrenching yet systematic vocals take the reigns. "Trading Hemispheres" is goosebump-worthy.

I soon got ahold of Mr. Dowling via email and this is a portion of his story:

"I was born in New Zealand, about an hour north of Auckland in the middle of nowhere. It's a good 20 minute drive to the nearest small town. It's beautiful and I have lived there all my life until a week ago when I fled to South East Asia. About 7 weeks ago I started recording the EP and it took around 5 weeks to complete. I am a very impatient and inexperienced audio engineer, so often times I would stop after 1 or 2 takes. For example I laid down the vocal track for "Trading Hemispheres" in a single take so that I could send a demo to my brother. But it sounded ok so I left it."

I'd like to stay in touch with Oscar Dowling in his travels and cover some more of his music for your shuffling pleasure. In the meantime, you can check out his recently self-recorded EP on his SoundCloud. Hopefully, I'll be reporting back soon. In the meantime, listening to this track on repeat is a must.

Tracks by Oscar Dowling