Oskar Flowers Kickstarts Music Career During Pandemic

A recent article in The Tyee details the lockdown-era music project started by ECU graduate Oskar Flowers (BMA 2020).

As a member of the first class of students in living memory to finish their degrees during a pandemic, the Vancouver-based artist found himself fighting restlessness after graduation.

“I knew I had to do something, create something, to make movement inside my head because I can’t go out, otherwise I’m risking myself, I’m risking other people,” Oskar told The Tyee.

He transformed his living quarters into a DIY studio, and spent day after day hammering out sounds and melodies on his bare-bones equipment. The result was a series of fuzzed-out, low-fi, New Wave-y tunes and a new moniker: KidMotor.

“When I thought about starting KidMotor, I loved the idea of being part of this legacy of young artists resisting a global pandemic, not falling into stillness, and the importance of our work in the community in these blurry times,” he says. “I think we all have something great to share.”

Originally from Mexico City, Oskar sings in both Spanish and English. His audience, however, has begun to tune in from as far afield as Russia. The Tyee profile, written by Aly Laube, digs into the many subjects and sounds Oskar draws on to accompany his driving rhythms.

Oskar’s main message throughout the article, however, is the power of art-making to help give us courage during troubled times.

“[Music] is making me feel alive right now, even if I’m alone, even if I’m locked down. All these factors COVID brings, music makes me get over it, makes me feel content, makes me feel like I’m doing what I need to be doing,” he says.

Sitting still, he adds, is no option at all, and he wants artists everywhere to keep creating, no matter what it is they do.

“It’s the only way through this pandemic, I think,” he tells The Tyee. “It’s helping me. Starting my [music] career during the pandemic is me saying, ‘Don’t stay still.’”

Read the full story now at TheTyee.ca.