Oversize Detail Debut Album (‘Vital Sign’)

Rising British outfit Oversize have revealed details of their debut album. It’s titled ‘Vital Sign’ and will be released through Shaprtone Records on February 28th.

It’s considerably the culmination of Oversize‘s emergence in recent years. Having formed in late 2019 through a mutual appreciation for 90’s shoegaze, emo, indie, and Britpop, the band would begin playing shows in 2021. Since then they’ve shared stages with a host of names including Militarie Gun, Higher Power, Fiddlehead, Boston Manor, and Puppy. They’ve also appeared at Outbreak and Burn It Down festivals. They’re also set to play next summer’s 2000trees Festival.

Although they have previously released a couple of EPs, ‘Vital Signs’ promises to expand on the quintet’s dynamic range and atmospheric textures, fulfilling their aim to be what they describe being “an ‘album band'”.

“Even though we had released two EPs previously, we’ve always had enough material written to make a full-length, so we knew after the second EP it was time to make the jump,” shared Oversize in a press release. “It was always our aim to write an album where each song has its own identity yet still works holistically as an album, we were really conscious of the album not sounding to ‘samey’ yet the same time not feeling like a playlist of random songs. We’re still so honoured that SharpTone shares our passion and vision for the record and can’t wait for people to finally hear it.”

Furthermore, ‘Vital Sign’ sees Oversize once again work with producer Lewis Johns at The Ranch Production House.

The announcement of ‘Vital Signs’ is accompanied by the release of its title track. It proves to be an enticing teaser of the album with Sam Shutler’s acute drums piercing through Tazz Edwards and Lewis Lennane-Emm’s fuzzy, hypnotic guitars. While Sam McCauley’s ethereal vocals lean into Oversize‘s shoegaze side, with George Lewis’ bass rounding out the wall of noise conjured up by the five-piece.

“While ‘Vital Signs’ is technically the title track of the album, it was originally written as an album closer and from start to finish was written comfortably in under an hour,” Oversize explained. “I think the simplicity of the song and the free-flowing structure combined with extra production elements – drum loops and super saturated and effect-heavy guitars – give this song a unique feel within our catalogue of songs. Lyrically much like the rest of the album, the song revolves around a journey of grief and the acceptance of loss. We felt the lyric ‘Vital Signs’ was the perfect summary for the album as a whole.”