Live Review: Oscar Key Sung finds himself caught in an emotional labyrinth on his 'Simple Luv' video

16 May 2018 | 3:37 pm | Kyle Fensom

Ahead of the release of his No Disguise EP, Oscar Key Sung shares the vibrant kaleidoscope visual companion for his latest single, 'Simple Luv'

OSCAR KEY SUNG is gearing up to release his first full project since 2015’s Altruism with his new EP, No Disguises, next week. So far, he's announced his return with a string of three consistently excellent singles, with each one feeling like a potent distillation of memory and time, feeling and experience caught in a permanent state of transience. Ahead of No Disguise’s release, he’s shared the visual treatment for the latest of those singles, the gorgeous ‘Simple Luv’.

Directed by NAVEED FARRO and Oscar himself, the video, like any true visual companion, draws out aspects of the song that augment our ultimate understanding of the track, highlighting the undertones of ambivalence that complicates Key Sung's search for a simple love. Suddenly, what reads on the surface as an uncomplicated ode to the basic human need for affection becomes something knottier as the video poses questions about whether or not such a simplistic vision of love exists and why people keep chasing after it in perpetuity. 

Of the video, Oscar Key Sung said, “I often write outlandish treatments for video clips and sci-fi films which are completely out of the realm of what I could possibly afford to make. One morning I wrote a treatment/idea for a video for ‘Simple Luv’ - basically I wanted it to be set in a labyrinth. It was just such a simple way to articulate what the song’s core theme is about. The idea of searching/believing when there is no proof that you are making progress. No proof that what you are searching for even exists, but where to find a labyrinth.”

Plug into the latest music with our FREE weekly newsletter

In the video, Oscar’s search for a simplistic, uncomplicated love as a labyrinth is replete with the sort of “tunnels without a light” that he sings of on the track’s chorus, promising that an end to his search might lay around whichever corner he takes next. Alas, the video, which is set entirely within the confines of this labyrinth, never provides him with an answer.

Key Sung seems accepting of this possibility, betraying an ambivalent awareness that he might be caught in a game which has been designed to set him up as a perpetual loser. As such, he’s never explicitly looking for a way out of his labyrinth, but rather he seems to revel in his state of permanent transience, impressionistically dancing his way through a vibrant kaleidoscope of neon-lit rooms representative of his conflicting emotional states. As he does, blemishes of digital manipulation and static distortion creep into the frame, questioning the construction and reality of Oscar’s labyrinth. 

'Simple Luv' is another exciting taste of what's to come in No Disguises, with Oscar Key Sung showing he really knows his strengths and is developing music in which he just sounds so good on. Developing further on the foundations laid from huge tracks like 'All I Could Do' and EPs Altruism and Holograms, this is an evolution of one of the country's most exciting artists. We can't wait to see him level up next week.

No Disguises is out May 25th via Good Manners.

Oscar will be touring nationally behind his No Disguises EP - you can find all the details and tickets below:

IMAGE: Supplied

SEE MORE: