Full Album show of April 13 2021
Album: Young Eyes Burning Bright


Artist's Biography

Worldview is the alias of Oliver Shaw, an Oxford UK-based songwriter, performer and producer mingling rock, pop, dance and folk with insightful lyrics and an overarching melodic sensibility. Oliver began playing in bands, including one with Coldplay’s bassist-to-be, then spent several years honing a one-man band approach in his home studio, writing, singing and playing everything in the manner of Stevie Wonder, early Prince or World Party. He selfreleased a debut solo album, the relationship-themed War Years back in 2002, culled from home sessions. It enjoyed some airplay and praise for the “timeless quality” of the songwriting. A second set, Paying For It, followed in January 2005, with topics ranging from celebrity and consumerism to the Iraq conflict; the Oxfordbands.com website judged it “chock full of good tunes, clever lyrics and…united by a consistent, if rather misanthropic, musical vision". He appeared at Oxford venues with a backing band from the ranks of fledging local acts, and performed solo acoustic sets in London. Oliver then adopted a new format mixing live instruments and PC as Worldview, playing dates in Oxford and London and releasing the album Our Condition in 2008; Oxfordshire Music Scene wrote: “Worldview's aptly titled 'Our Condition' takes a snapshot view of modern living, with its raw honest exploration of life today...It's a strong offering with music that combines the ballads of REM with the dance beats of Duran Duran". The album track 'Entitlement' was later featured in the major BBC drama The Driver starring David Morrissey, broadcast in autumn 2014. The recent financial crisis was the subject of 2009's single, 'Party’s Over' which featured on the diverse personal and political album Schoolboy Errors, released in February 2012. This and other album highlights were aired on radio shows and podcasts worldwide, and Oliver discussed the album and his musical path in the UK's Vents Magazine. Now largely a studio act, Worldview's 2014 album Pop Philosophy was a mature reflection on life, loss and mortality in melodic, guitar-led rock songs with elements of electro, folk and funk. In its album review Skope Magazine concluded: “Pop Philosophy takes the basics of pop music, the hooks, the delivery, the thoughtfulness, and perfects them”. The new album Young Eyes Burning Bright is released on digital platforms on April 23rd 2021.

About the Album

After a six year absence Oliver Shaw’s Worldview returns with Young Eyes Burning Bright. The rock/pop album’s ten songs address twin, related themes: midlife regrets and lessons (‘Under The Bonnet’, ‘Married Life’, ‘Sit Me With You’), and mortality and bereavement (‘It’s What Happens’, ‘People Just Leave’), the fragility of life being reflected most starkly in the current Coronavirus pandemic (‘Sniper Of Life’). The lamentation of loss becomes political and humanitarian on ‘People Person’, a eulogy for the murdered Labour MP and campaigner Jo Cox. Other songs offer more consoling sentiments, asserting the timeless nature of a love departed (‘Certain Love’, ‘Invincible Summer’) and the transcendent qualities of beauty and art (‘A Rothko And Your Face’). Musically an established love of the sounds and songwriting of the 1960s is augmented here by a belated reconnection with his formative ‘80s and ‘90s influences. The evocation of Abbey Road is married with the subsequent few decades’ classic synthesizers and drum machines, then brought into the present via modern elements from electro and urban genres. Meanwhile kalimbas, sitars, Egyptian flutes and bagpipes expand the Worldview palette. Young Eyes Burning Bright is released on digital platforms on April 23rd 2021.