Zachary Schneider has played in a whole bunch of Melbourne bands you like, including Totally Mild and Full Ugly. But with solo project Great Outdoors, he’s inhabiting the guise of songwriter for the first time, taking inspiration from prototypical All-American blue eyed soul singers like Todd Rundgren and Steely Dan. The result is lyrical, contemplative guitar pop designed to steer you through any kind of twenty-something existential crisis life throws your way.A juxtaposition of the everyday and surreal, the video for “Dad’s Oasis”, the lead single from Great Outdoors’ debut album of the same name, revels in suburban banalities like leafy streets and swimming pools. Well, up until the point where squirming fish start falling on Schneider’s face from above, a bit like those toads at the end of in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia.What’s the deal with the fish? Turns out, they’re a metaphor for the millennial condition.
“Consistently being told you'll never own a home is kind of like having dead fish and offal thrown at your face,” Schneider tells Noisey. What with all those news headlines about negative gearing and tax breaks for the rich, he’s got economics on his mind. “The whole video is kind of about time passing and feeling stagnant. Feeling that an older demographic or generation are better off than you, and how that doesn't make any sense because you are more relevant and capable.”Dads - we love them, but it kind of sucks how they’ve got a stranglehold on the property market. To be honest, it’s high time someone wrote a song about it.'Dad’s Oasis' is out today on iTunes, Spotify and Bandcamp, with limited edition vinyl available on Pop Frenzy May 13.
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“Consistently being told you'll never own a home is kind of like having dead fish and offal thrown at your face,” Schneider tells Noisey. What with all those news headlines about negative gearing and tax breaks for the rich, he’s got economics on his mind. “The whole video is kind of about time passing and feeling stagnant. Feeling that an older demographic or generation are better off than you, and how that doesn't make any sense because you are more relevant and capable.”Dads - we love them, but it kind of sucks how they’ve got a stranglehold on the property market. To be honest, it’s high time someone wrote a song about it.'Dad’s Oasis' is out today on iTunes, Spotify and Bandcamp, with limited edition vinyl available on Pop Frenzy May 13.