West Yorkshire’s Oliver Pinder explores the experiences and emotions that come with being human on his sophomore EP too late to tell you
A firm CLOUT favourite and somebody who’s evolution we have been able to follow in real time as he has grown as an artist and songwriter through years of crafting intimate and resonating singles that are packed full of charming appeal, West Yorkshire’s Oliver Pinder is an expert of putting resonating and real situations and feelings into his poignant sound, and new brand new sophomore EP too late to tell you is the latest showcase of just how stirring his work can be.
The EP opens with ‘lonely together’, a track that delves into the harrowing feeling that your friends and almost life in general have kind of left you behind, leaving you in a weird space where you know that things are happening and that life is going on, you’re just not there and you have to be fine with that. It is a track that many people will relate to wholeheartedly, and the quietly rousing feel of the track offers a kind of solidarity and sense of oneness with these listeners that makes for engrossing listening throughout.
‘never ever’ follows and sees the artist finding himself just about on the other side of a problematic relationship and re-figuring himself out and who he is in the aftermath. The heavier nature of the instrumentation and crunching guitars do a great job of reinforcing the bitterness and anger that the artist seems to hold on the track, and it showcases a sense of ambition and scope in the way that it ventures to his more alternative-adjacent territory to date.
The achingly poignant and thoughtful ‘dog outside’ is a track that feels like a complete contrast to the sharper edges of its predecessor, a piano-led track that sees Oliver at his most vulnerable and impassioned, being honest about some of his flaws and faults but acknowledging them and his hopes that he will improve and be better going forward. It makes for a really moving moment of reflection and one of the raw, emotional centrepieces of the album.
The other of these emotional centrepieces comes in the next track ‘love of my life’, a release that serves as a heartfelt ode and tribute to Oliver’s grandma that feels every inch a fitting way to do so. The track builds and grows from something soft and moving to an impassioned wall of sound, growing increasingly cathartic and liberating in a way that feels like an outpouring of grief and emotion, making for a compelling listening experience that grips you as a listener.
There is a more straight-laced indie rock approach to ‘millionaire’, a track that is packed full of catchy choruses, poppy hooks that melds aspirational dreamy lyrics with ones more grounded in reality to provide a thoughtful contrast. The energetic and driving nature of this sound makes for some great moments, as do the dynamic riffs and the slick tone of the guitars throughout.
The EP closes out with ‘haunted’, a track that has an almost grungy tone to its instrumentation that continues to showcase the nuance and heart that gets poured into Oliver’s sound and style. The track feels more akin to the work of bands like Basement and Balance and Composure than Oliver’s more typical fare, but it does a great job of reinforcing the artist’s adaptability and charm, and his thoughtful writing and vocal style do a great job of tying it together to his other tracks in a way that doesn’t feel disjointed or jarring.
too late to tell you is a collection of tracks that expand upon the Oliver Pinder world stylistically, tied together by the very human and raw nature of the themes explored and the imperfections and pitfalls along the way that makes things real. Whether it is dealing with loss, liberating yourself from a toxic relationship or dealing with friendships fading over time, they are universal experiences that are explored through specific experiences that Oliver has had, and the way that he expresses them in ways that feel both deeply personal and widely universal is what makes him feel so special and celebrated as a songwriter and artist.
