Yorkshire songwriter Oliver Pinder returns with new single ‘Monster’, a sweeping, emotionally charged alt-folk-rock release that transforms personal grief into a widescreen reflection on memory, anger, and forgiveness.
Akin to Sam Fender, the track uses storytelling lyricism and driving drums to pull the track forward as elegant guitar lines building a warming soundscape. ‘Monster’ blends alt-folk intimacy with indie-rock heft, gradually unfolding into a layered, harmony-driven crescendo of distorted vocals, panned fuzz riffs, and crashing cymbals, balancing pop accessibility with emotional abrasion and an alternative core.
Co-written with Jack Segal, the single is rooted in a deeply personal history. Pinder traces its origin back to childhood grief following the loss of his father at age 12, and the complex emotional narratives that followed.
“’Monster’ was the first song I ever wrote with Jack Segal… what connected us straight away was a willingness to chase the uncomfortable truth in a song,” Pinder explains. “For a long time, I carried a lot of anger about losing my dad when I was 12… as a kid, you do not always know where to put that grief, so you look for someone to blame. ‘Monster’ started from those feelings and the stories we would tell ourselves about what happened, but as the song developed it became about something much bigger: growing up and realising the people who raised you were just trying to figure life out too.”
What begins as a confrontation gradually shifts into reconciliation. By its final verse, ‘Monster’ reframes its emotional centre, moving from blame to understanding, and ultimately toward forgiveness. Pinder describes it as “a song about forgiveness, not just of other people, but of yourself.”
That emotional duality has become a defining feature of his work, placing him within a broader lineage of confessional indie songwriting alongside artists such as Phoebe Bridgers, Bleachers, and Wunderhorse. His writing style, part narrative and part emotional excavation, has earned comparisons to late-night confessionals built for both solitude and communal release.
From Queensbury in Bradford and now based in Wakefield, Pinder’s music continues to be grounded in lived experience, memory, and emotional release. His early releases, including debut EP ‘Potential, I Guess?’, received support from BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Introducing, helping establish him as one of the North of England’s emerging indie voices. Subsequent live work has included sold-out headline shows, festival appearances at The Great Escape, Barn on the Farm, and Humber Street Sesh, and a headline set at Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club.
His second EP, ‘too late to tell you’, marked a step forward in ambition and reach, arriving alongside his first vinyl release and a tightly packed 16-date UK tour. With a third EP due in 2026 and a debut album planned for 2027, Pinder’s trajectory suggests an artist steadily widening his sonic scope while keeping emotional honesty at the centre.
With continued support from BBC stations nationwide and Radio X following ‘Such An Angel’, ‘Monster’ reinforces Oliver Pinder as an artist building momentum through storytelling that does not avoid discomfort, but instead treats it as the starting point.
