Uncommon Ground ^ Peter Oyloe

Peter Oyloe
Peter Oyloe's debut album, Words & Music, is precisely crafted, fueled by a captivating and rare talent. By his own words, Oyloe is "an old soul, raised on homegrown goats milk and thoughtful solitude, whose love of love and people is constant and strong."

Perhaps it's the well-tended, organic Iowa roots that have enabled Oyloe's talents to far exceed most of his contemporaries. For an industry that has been heavily polluted with the mass marketed-whir of overproduced pop singers or the homogonous drone of the Indie scene (the title of which loses meaning daily as its forefront members become increasingly featured on MTV and mainstream radio), Oyloe's arrival in the music world is a long awaited breath of fresh air.

Oyloe grew up listening to his father's record albums and came to love such music as The Beatles, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Cat Stevens and Michael Martin Murphy's "Geronimo's Cadillac". Buying his first guitar for ten dollars, he was compelled to start playing and writing immediately and begin his search for the perfect melody, one he has yet to satisfy.

Through his music, Oyloe plays tribute to those he admires while managing to keep the sound his own and something hand-tailored for the modern day.

His lyrics are clearly-focused, revealing simple truths grounded in the enigma of fierce emotional intimacy: lost loves, personal challenges, misunderstanding, lies and unrealized dreams. "My music haunts me," Oyloe says. "It frustrates me, it is soothing and challenging, dangerous and disastrous, beautiful and bland"

Oyloe's vocal talents fall easily into the ranks of legends such as Jeff Buckley and James Taylor, saturating every song with lush melodies, sometimes soaring and crooning and sometimes delicate and understated. His vocal ranges alone traverse a broad spectrum of emotion, at times dark and contemplative, reflecting the stark honesty and ardor Oyloe brings to his music, and other times driven by an upward grace and sweeping romanticism.

Words & Music technically isn't the first album Oyloe has worked on. He previously recorded a full-length album with college-friend Tommy Mokas and their group, Coldwater Poets. However, due to lack of funding and Oyloe's decision to move to New Zealand, the project was never able to be released. It was in New Zealand that Oyloe pushed the boundaries of his artistry in several compelling and remarkable directions-being cast as Marius in the country's production of Les Miserables, he added to a long list of credentials as a actor/musical theatre singer, Oyloe also traveled extensively, where he found much of the time and inspiration to write and compose his own music.

What makes Words & Music even more remarkable is that it is entirely self-produced and recorded locally and comes with the support of several local Decorah, Iowa area musicians.

The beauty and magnitude of Oyloe's talents are sure to raise the standards in the music industry of today and for generations to come.