Oxy Music
Cameron has always been a great storyteller, finding his ways into the depths of the places where not many others are looking, and Oxy Music continues on that trajectory. It’s filled with stories of people who fall outside the system and exist in the grey areas of life. In its design - its music, lyrics and tracklist - lies the journey a person can take, if the circumstances present themselves - down the road of heavy drug and alcohol abuse. Initially inspired by Nico Walker’s Cherry, Cameron was spurred into yet another commentary on American Life, this time about the opioid crisis that has taken over the country. He says about Oxy Music: “The album is a story, a work of fiction, mostly from the perspective of a man. Starved of meaningful purpose, confused about the state of the world, and in dire need of a reason to live - a person can, and according to the latest statistics, increasingly will, turn to opioids. This is one of those people.” While Oxy Music could be dark, it’s instead brighter and more buoyant than much of Cameron’s previous work, a shift in mood first seen across 2019’s Miami Memory. It’s told from a place of optimism and through the lens of Cameron, in the way that only he can tell it. As with the previously released, “Sara Jo,” “Best Life” gives a context of drug use to distort the confronting nature of contemporary reality as Cameron sings of the feelings of insecurity brought about by life online: “I guess I’m just winning / But I get no reaction / My comments just don’t rank / Or my post tanks.” Directed by Jemima Kirke, produced by Jim Larson and starring Kirke and Cameron, the song’s video explores the idea of what it means to find one’s “best life” by accepting others’ insecurities – in this instance, a skin condition such as eczema – as loveable qualities.
The impish artist’s fourth record attempts all of the same tricks that made his music so compelling earlier in his career, but with far less success.
Alex Cameron shows himself to be an endless source of pop hooks and wit on Oxy Music
Alex Cameron's new album 'Oxy Music' is a commentary on America’s opioid crisis with rare moments of emotional connection.
Australian-born Alex Cameron is best described as music's answer to Danny McBride. Cameron is as much a fiction author as he is a singer, an...
Four albums in, and Australian showman Alex Cameron continues to display his knack for brilliant storytelling.
Sure, Alex Cameron writes some of the most nuanced lyrics around. His songs are acerbic, observational, dripping in irony and satire—and yet, they are deeply and confrontationally honest. But are Alex Cameron’s songs still hitting the same critique-laden mark that those on his debut Jumping the Shark did?
This new album is all well and good, but we still can't decide if Alex Cameron is taking the piss or not. Either way, big tunes