SOTD #48 // Diamond Rings: 'Wait & See'

Everything about Diamond Rings’ (boring “real life” name: John O’Regan) debut single, “Wait & See”, seems to suggest that he would struggle to care what you think of him. And whilst his artistic nonchalance might be less of a Lemmy fist-in-the-face and more of a Kevin Barnes camp couple-of-fingers-waved-in-your-general-direction, it’s impossible to doubt that this suspiciously Owen Pallett-like man means everything that falls so casually from his lips on the infectiously lamenting “Wait & See”.

This depressingly rare characteristic of actually having something more worthwhile to talk about than your boring life as a failing musician (you’re desperately unhappy having a job that most people would kill their parents to do, we get it, just shut the fuck up and make me some toast) is only the first of many qualities that make us as near to certain as its possible to be, without actually having the necessary bollocks to put any money on it, that Diamond Rings is headed on an upward ascendancy that’s currently passing the obligatory stage of “post SXSW buzz” and is careering towards “Hype Machine users frenetically tapping away at the hearts next to anything adorned with your name” before the inevitable, and much deserved, signing.

His lack of self consciousness, infectious charisma, and ability to nail down emotions most people spend years trying to articulate properly are just three of the reasons why we’re so close to digging for the wallet on this one; but all of these qualities would be more than useless if Diamond Rings wasn’t able to pull them all together into the spectacular emotionally-fragile pop of “Wait & See” that is equally indebted to the roughly-cut scuzz of the recent lo-fi epidemic and the more thoughtful electronic ramblings of The Postal Service or Of Montreal.

All of this suggests that Diamond Rings is most probably going to avoid being consigned to a future of making me toast and walloping on about his “boring life as a failing musician”. Now would be a good time to get yourself involved by downloading “Wait & See”, for as we all know, the only acceptable reason for being a “music fan” is the glorious feeling of coolly slipping in to conversation: “Oh yeah, Diamond Rings, I really liked him about a year ago”, probably coming off looking like the most un-cool internet-humping music geek, but going away feeling like the undisputed King of the Music Industry, and not really caring at all what anyone thinks of you. Diamond Rings definitely wouldn’t.

Diamond Rings: “Wait & See”