MIND SWELL

Welcome to Mind Swell.

A dive into the minds of creatives

that use the natural environment as their canvas.

MIND SWELL x Oscar Langburne

Oscar Langburne is a surfer from the Central Coast of NSW. He has a timeless and mesmerising approach to riding a wave. Although what makes Oscar truly stand out in this age of popularity contests and fake facades is his true individuality. He isn’t afraid to be himself. I sat down with Oscar to gain an insight into the personality that produces that effortless style and what became very clear is Oscar is humble, profound and reflective. The world of surfing is truly lucky to have him.

Expectations in surfing can be difficult to balance. Although you seem to have a strong moral compass that keeps things not forced but honest and fun. What helps you ground yourself when feeling overwhelmed?    

I get pissed off and overwhelmed, everyone does. When I get like that, I guess I try and remind myself of how fortunate I have it and not to take things for granted. I also admire people who behave unselfishly and humbly regardless of who they are with, so I use that as an influence. 

It's like I might love how someone surfs but then in person if they are super arrogant or into themselves and bad mouthing others I then think of that before I see their surfing and it puts me off them, so I don't want to be like that. I also don't set goals based on other people's goals, I guess it helps I'm not in any way a comp person so I haven't had a checklist of what I need to be doing. Outside of that I don't worry about negative people making negative comments. I can see that shit for what it is.

Some solid truth right there! Who are some of these people that influence you?  

Roger Federer, Joe Talbot from Idles, Jacinda Ardern, all different, all seem humble. In surfing, Dane. 

In a world filled with instant gratification and idealistic tendencies, doing something for genuine enjoyment and expression of individualism sometimes gets forgotten. How important is it to have hobbies and interests that are done for just that; enjoyment and self-expression?  

I try and stay true to myself but of course I've been influenced in surfing, clothes and music and all that changes constantly. A lot of that comes from being young but now I’m exploring different things in music, surfing etc. So what you're saying is exactly right, so many people see these bullshit fake versions of plastic people on social media and think that is how they have to look and then base their own self-worth measured from these fake looking people. There's a million tatted up muscly guys and millions of girls with fake lips and tits, who cares they all blend into one.  It's not reality but it creates clones and I can't stand that, so that's why I do like to try and express a bit more and have an opinion. 

The music selection in your edits tastefully compliments your surfing. Do you think this highlights the fact that your surfing is an extension of your personality? 

For me music is so important, I've got a core group of favourite bands I like but last year or so have gone off exploring a lot of different types of music from that. Sometimes I'll hear a song and think fuck that is just a sick match to surfing and think of what surfing goes with the music. I'd never do a clip and just slap a song of the moment on it, you see some clips and the music has piss all connection to the surfing, so that usually gets turned off or muted. In saying that a lot people I enjoy watching generally match music well. Long answer sorry... but yeah I think both surfing and music, for me, need to be combined as an extension of personality. 

Arcade Fire’s ‘No Cars Go’ melted beautifully with your ‘Away From The Numbers’ clip. What are some bands you have recently discovered? 

Thanks I heard that and I just liked how it builds. Umm I don't really find new stuff by listening to the radio usually it's more reading about people I like and then they might say someone that influenced them. For instance I'm listening to Nick Drake because Paul Weller, Nick Cave, Robert Smith who are all so different list his stuff so it's pretty safe it's going to be good and it's completely different to their stuff but fucking amazing. But then sometimes people I like will say an artist and it's unlistenable to me so it's not always the case. 

Anyway a couple of newer songs I like would be Silly D by Surfbort and Grounds by Idles. Whether it's well known or underground music I listen because I like it and it can be any style, I don't care. I've been discovering a lot of Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison too and they are way more individual then so much other stuff trying so hard to be. 

In light of the recent broken leg, have any passion projects formed from this time out of the water? 

I was lucky timing wise, I had just finished a clip in New Zealand and also had bits and pieces of footage for another really short edit. Then I broke my leg, COVID hit and all the travel plans were written off anyway. I was bummed at first but then used the time to start reading a lot, explore more music, play a little guitar, drawing and generally trying to be productive with my time and also stick to the physio. Off the back of that I was seeing all the awful racist shit coming out of the States and that's also happening here and has been for a long time. I was listening to The Specials and one of their songs RACIST FRIEND really summed it up so I started doing handmade shirts and sending them out, one thing led to another and another anti racist shirt was designed. RVCA who sponsor me picked it up and produced it for related charity. It got received well so I think there should be more in the next few weeks. I'm back surfing too which has been so good.