Forced Random
Introduce yourselves to London pop phenomenon Forced Random, the vision of Oliver Girdler, who proudly presents the world premiere for the memorable “Get On” that exhibits the art of moving forward as the resonance of a moment continues to reverberate. Following up the reflective song cycles of the I’m Still Here If You Want Me EP & Overthink Overact Overshare EP; Girdler captures something torn between the vintage roaming folk poet troubadour or a Britain perusing their way through the 70s Southern power pop circuits where Americans celebrated the Mersey Beats & Northern Soul icons of past canons of incredible influence. The approach from the chosen moniker blends an urgent & arbitrary indulgence in the creative pull found in that moment of happenstance where an unlimited array of inspired epiphanies often emerge in a freeplay release of concepts & ideas of generative inceptions.
“Get On” finds Oliver Girdler getting on with things with a Forced Random song about the things that propel change & movement in our lives. Oliver makes music that have all the markings of a bedroom pop taught & tried recorder who developed & realized aesthetic visions of the self & their place in an ever changing world. The core of “Get On” tackles how we as humans find ourselves in those states of evolution in relationship to the shifting environments & rhythms of how routines are altered & rearranged with the passing of each day. Much Girdler’s recent Forced Random songs are concerned with the notion of how we all go about getting on with our collective lives, and how we accept the changes around us, the things we can impact with a change for the better along with the things that we cannot change that exist in someways out of our grasp & understanding of why they are happening to begin with. The earnestness & unbound expression of honesty heard in every strum & sung harmony & lyric resounds with an impressionable & lasting sentiment of a song made with real purpose & meaning. Oliver described these seas of change with the following introductory thoughts:
We must all evolve or become obsolete—technologically/romantically/culturally/musically.
We had a chance to catch up with Force Random in the following interview session:
Give us the full story about how Forced Random began & the arbitrary history behind the name.
About five years ago I had written and recorded a collection of songs that were taking shape as a potential EP. The songs sounded different to anything I had done before and I think I was on the path of finding my voice, my sound. I had deemed what I had done at the time as good enough to share and I felt like I had landed upon the foundation of something interesting that I wanted to pursue but ultimately I didn’t want to release it under my own name. I found it more freeing to hide behind a moniker or some sonic aesthetic that wouldn’t deem it as a solo / singer-songwriter project.
The name itself comes from a Flaming Lips trip I was on at the time and had recently watched the Fearless Freaks documentary. I’m not sure if this is me remembering correctly but I think the name was taken from a melody composing technique they had created that was used as some back door way of writing songs. They called that process Forced Random and that simple idea of writing without rule or some go to technique mirrored the way I had been writing songs at the time.
I didn’t give it much thought other than the name was available and sounded kind of cool to me.
Provide us with some insights about your own creative, musical approach in song composition & craft.
I try not to think about the approach or glorify the process in anyway. A new idea presents itself to me when it’s ready and it happens quickly but it’s always important to me not to overkill the source in the process, in demoing or in figuring stuff out too heavily because to me it takes a lot of the life out of it all. I’d rather leave an idea half fleshed out for a while than let it be spoilt by overdoing it.
When I get into the recording process I trust my instinct and will have an idea of how I want it to sound. I’ll compromise it’s overall coherence to hear some personality or something real so I can be taken back to the place or feeling that inspired the original idea when I listen to it myself.
I do have fun with details, like the sonic bed the song sits on top of but that’s the easy bit for me and I’ve come to realize that the real value is in the song or the feel alone.
Tell us more about the making of the upcoming LP.
I’ve been writing this this LP more off than on for the last year or so, recording it between Berlin and London with Rudi Maier (Burkini Beach) and I’d say at this point the bulk of the tracking is done and I now have a potential track listing to work towards its completion.
There’s a working but stolen title of Cut the Crap (the name of the final The Clash album) and I hope it’ll be out before summer 2018 but right now it’s simply a case of it’s finished when it’s finished and for as long as nobody is waiting for it its up to me to me to get it done.
Unfortunately life has had its way of interfering but I’ve a good feeling it’ll all be worth it. I’ve a knack for recycling all that chaos anyway.
What sorts of feelings of getting on with it & the like informed “Get On”?
Ohhh feelings!
Deal with things moving forward and not standing still.
Do not lose yourself to the reality of what’s happened.
Do not let it derail you.
Do not point blame.
Do not pass go.
Doing what’s best for you can be as hard as doing what you think is best for someone else.
Give yourself permission to separate from something or someone and not feel bad about it.
Refuse to go down the route of doing what most people do in a break up.
Get on with things.
Get on with each other.
I did the hunched over depressed boo hoo hoo, I’m so sad thing for long enough for me to actively avoid it as long as I can. So with some fake bravado i pumped out my chest a little and imagined I was Popeye A-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah!
It could have been a completely different song had I let the brutal reality control the process but i didn’t want to spoil the delicious hooks…
Rad things happening in London right now?
Honestly I wouldn’t know anymore, as I’m not the most reliable source to say.
I’m hardly plugged into what’s going on but I’m trying to pay more attention so I can figure out where I exist within all of it. I keep my ear to the ground where my interest allows but I’m the last person to catch on and I’m always the last to the party.
As curious as you are about what’s going on over here in London I’d quite like to find myself in New York. Simply for the escape and a new surrounding.
2018 plans?
Aside from finishing the record and setting this Forced Random thing up to exist it’ll be all change for me in 2018.
I figure at this point I don’t have much going on for myself in regards to work or a plan as such and I’ve done my share of dog shit jobs to support my moping around feeling sorry for myself. That’s going to change! I’m going to work harder, join in a little and really invest in what I’m doing here. Ultimately staying alive, not taking myself to seriously and being happy, that’s the goal.
Listen to more from Forced Random via Bandcamp/Soundcloud.
