Oliver Shaw A Beginners Guide To Dystrophia 

In Your Ears Music – Track By Track Album Review  – Lewis Duckers 

London singer songwriter and poet lauder Oliver Shaw is back with third album The Beginners Guide To Dystopia. The album was released digitally earlier this year, and we hope a vinyl release will follow to sit proudly alongside 2019 Oliver’s previous glorious offerings Last Of The English Cowboys and 2020 Of Darker Plains. 

Truth only hurts the liars opens up and what an opening gambit, full of laden shimmering guitars and an eerie statement throughout. 

Next up is Ronald Ray Gun, ex us president and once an actor. Now those unfamiliar with Ollies work need to check out his YouTube channel – Where he too acts in some of his music videos and the video that accompanies this song is bordering on the sublime to carry that off in central London is quite unbelievable!

Next up murder of the most horrid – This was the first foray into this new album being the first single released, it was a change in direction for the Oliver Shaw Experience gaining comparisons to some of the Gorilaz finest output. What an offbeat, infectious, hook laden cautionary tale – This song is a riot! 

Amelie again with a beautiful video to accompany it this time in the form of animated story board, this strips things right back with its thought provoking lyrics. 

Another change of pace arrives in the form of exoskeleton – This song is definitely a distant cousin of Ipso Hekto or Insant Grams from ollies previous of darker plains album – Hard hitting, the superb production of Paul Tipler really coming to the fore and a haunting vocal! 

Sexless apprentice – Again you need to check this video out – Arrives, pulsating, twitching I am the wolf and you are the bear swirling around a frenetic beat. 

We then move to the title track – A Beginners Guide To Dystopia! Keeping in line with the two previous albums, the title track is another highlight. The Gilmore inspired guitar, the lyrics and delivery all combine. The band are on top of their game here coming to the fore. 

Two and two has a deliciously dark intro before launching into you don’t look like your from around here, but you look the same as me. I first heard this driving down the motorway and intensity of the song sounds great on the road. 

A dark cautionary tale in Hello Mr Postman before sick strips things back in the sense Amelie did previously. Nevermind a tip of one of Ollies famous fedora’s to Kurt Cobain maybe, has a beautiful melody! 

We then move on to her favourite place, this blew me away last year live when the Oliver Shaw Experience ventured up north to Northwich. The hook when Ollie sings it’s not love but it’s reaaaaal is magical, this song evokes memories of pure britpop and again could be a distant relation to the equally brilliant falling in love again from the first album. 

Last strips it all back down again with a Dylan esque acoustic before beautiful instrumentation arrives subtlety in the background. A beautiful way to end a joyous third album. Check out ollies YouTube channel and socials for gig updates, and hopefully that vinyl will arrive soon!