Charly Oakley ‘Yells Shit at the Universe’ in a debut album made to be screamed at the top of your lungs
Written by Alice Ruby McDonald
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Charly (they/she) or Chuck, welcomes worldly complexities in an open-armed lively pop party. Truly ‘Yelling Shit at the Universe’
A nine track emotive and truly luscious journey of positive pop that stays far away from any sense of blasé over-commerciality, Chuck has cultivated a golden sense of energy in their debut album ‘Yelling Shit at the Universe.’ With advanced instrumentation and production skills from Jordie Thomas, mixing and mastering from Samuel K Sproull and skilful playing from Lawrence Hawkins, this album is not only a standout for Chuck’s career but also a wonderful display of camaraderie-ship in top quality musicians.
Chuck doesn’t have a barrier between them and their audience. As a passionate fan of Australian vocals in a clear and natural tone, I am mesmerised by Chuck’s technically mature but intimately youthful sound.
The lustrous album has been cleverly teased with single releases of ‘Keep Your Distance Where You Can’,‘Living/Dying’ and ‘Independent or Lonely,’—there is already a well-thought-out narrative to this album even before it has been heard as a whole. ‘Living/Dying’ is a revolving door of spectacular and gnarly instrumentation that is obsessively driven by Chuck’s energy whereas ‘Keep Your Distance Where You Can’ is a cooling and effulgent introduction to Chuck’s musical dialect.
Despite a constant sense of personal intimacy with Chuck’s mind and song, ‘Who are We Now’ expresses a sensitivity to Chuck; there is a lot of deep feeling in ‘Yelling Shit at the Universe’— it’s as though this album is a therapeutic source not only for Chuck, but also for the listener.
Whatever seeds Chuck has planted in ‘Yelling Shit at the Universe’ it is an absolute pleasure that they have shared it with everyone. The ending of this album on ‘Garden of Growth’ feels like the afterglow of a good, hard cry. Huge shoutout to punchy horn tracking from Ned Wright-Smith.
Chuck is creating music that is thought out, complex and ultimately energetically inviting; I am genuinely blown away that this is their debut album release.
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‘Yelling Shit at the Universe’ by Charly Oakley is out on all streaming platforms July 15th, with a huge night expected for their album launch at Stay Gold in Brunswick Thursday July 14th.