Deb Oh: Up-and-Coming and Here to Stay
Airy, unique and relatable sums up the musical sound of up-and-coming pianist and singer, Deb Oh. At a hip French restaurant we discussed her music and future plans.
Deb Oh has known her talents for quite some time—since she performed The Sound of Music for her parents as a young child—but not until recently did she decide to pursue music. Her days are spent recording songs, booking shows and essentially serving as her own manager. Understandably, logistical planning has been a challenge but that hasn’t interfered with her goals; so far, she has performed at various venues such as the Knitting Factory, Sidewalk Café and Pianos.
Deb’s main outlet to the public is her MySpace page and after listening to her posted tracks the first few words that come to me are airy, unique and relatable. Her lyrics are extremely clear yet they do not insult the listener’s intelligence either; thinking is still necessary. Some of her lyrics are reflective of her experiences and others are inspired by random moments in time and observations. Her style is a compilation of her personality, environment and musical influences, which include various artists and genres, particularly pop, indie and jazz.
Deb is especially influenced by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s notebooks and letters stating, “A lot of his notes are just so beautifully tragic and funny all at once; even when some of the one-sentence notes seem vague, they all pinpoint an emotion or feeling with an almost impossible clarity. I think in a way that’s a quality I try to capture in a lot of my songs.” She actually captures that very well in “Silent Film,” a song about a lost love: “The thought of happy endings is what usually gets me through / but naturally I missed you by a minute or two.”
Refreshing, un-recycled music is a rarity and as an “underground artist,” Deb believes that once an artist becomes popular it does not necessarily mean his / her talents should blend in with the norm; one can be popular and unique, not just through their music but through their personality as well. Oh’s personality is very apparent through her music as well as her blog, The Debonaire, which covers her varied interests: film, style, photography and, of course, music. She even posts her own mixes full of tracks from artists as diverse as Bettye Swann to Bruce Peninsula to Local Natives. So far she’s up to Vol. 3 and, just like her tracks, there’s more to come.
Even though the future for any up-and-coming artist is uncertain, Deb wants to go for it without any regrets. To her, being successful is not very appealing if there is a tangible end point saying, “Success is doing what you love and affecting some positive change - big or small - while you’re at it. I don’t ever want to sit back and go, ‘Well, self, you’ve succeeded. Nothing left to do now’; that sort of complacency is my wost nightmare.“ She knows what she wants out of life and that is to entertain us with her skillful fingers and melodious voice. Looking forward to the future, Deb has her sights set on her debut EP, so be vigilant and stay tuned.
For more on Deb Oh check out her blog The Debonaire.
