Back from his previous endeavor, in the form of single ‘Such An Angel‘, Oliver Pinder is back with alt-folk-rock single ‘Monster‘, complete with pop charm and his typical brand of storytelling. Lending influences from the likes of The Cure, Bombay Bicycle Club, and BoyGenius, Monster opens with shuffling percussion and acoustic rhythm guitar, before growing into a harmony-fuelled indie banger, complete with distorted vocals, cymbal crashes, and panned fuzz riffs.
Discussing the single, Oliver explains:
“‘Monster’ was the first song I ever wrote with Jack Segal, and it’s funny because we’ve gone on to write so much together since then. I think what connected us straight away was a willingness to chase the uncomfortable truth in a song, and this one definitely came from that place. For a long time, I carried a lot of anger about losing my dad when I was 12. As a kid, you don’t always know where to put that grief, so you look for someone to blame. ‘Monster’ started from those feelings and the stories we’d tell ourselves about what happened, but as the song developed it became about something much bigger: growing up and realising the people who raised you were just trying to figure life out too. The final verse completely changes the perspective of the song. What begins as a finger-pointing exercise ends with empathy. It’s about reaching an age where you can finally see the weight somebody else was carrying, the sacrifices they made and the battles they fought that you were too young to understand. In a strange way, it’s a song about forgiveness – not just of other people, but of yourself. It’s one of the most personal songs I’ve ever released.”
Born in Queensbury, Bradford, and now based in Wakefield, the Yorkshire songwriter creates guitar-driven alternative music rooted in memory, grief, and release. His songs feel like late-night confessions, built for headphones, long drives and rooms full of people screaming the same words back at him.
After losing his dad at 12, music became Oliver’s way of documenting the moments and feelings he did not want to lose. What began as intimate indie folk has grown into cathartic, guitar-led anthems, drawing comparisons to Bleachers, Wunderhorse and Phoebe Bridgers. His live shows are shared release points, sweaty, emotional gatherings where heartbreak and nostalgia are left behind together.