OZUL

track-list:
Promise
How could I?
Modus operandi
Kafka world
Pariah caste
Venus will not
Coping mechanism
Grievance entrepreneur
Lost
Admission
Man on the shore (nomen nescio)

After it’s well received debut album, Norwegian prog-driven project Ozul is set to release its second record:
a concept album titled ‘Man on the shore’.
The record deals with the issues of grief, struggle and tragedy of a character as he grapples an uphill battle to keep contact with his child after a divorce.
The idea for this album was triggered by a reportage in the Norwegian press about how a body of an unknown man was found dead lying on the fjord.
Nobody knew who he was, and no one had reported him missing.
This was the start for writing the story of what might have happened to this man, who – after standard procedure – was buried as ‘Nomen nescio’ which means:
‘I do not know the name’.
The record paints a possible story of what happened to him.
The single ‘Kafka World’ is a scene on this story as the character finds himself entrapped going back and forth an endless maze of offices, bureaucracy and law.
Yet he seems to receive no help on how to be able to see his son.
He is thrown to yet another office, to yet another meeting…
Many divorced fathers worldwide surely can relate to the hopelessness and absurdity of the situation this song aims to convey.
The song is a mix of influences, clearly inspired by heavy progressive music contrasted by electronic soundscapes and textures.
Ozul is the solo project of Norwegian/Costarrican filmmaker Paulo Chavarría.
This record is linked to a documentary film that he directed in 2022, titled ‘The bothersome father’, which dealt with exactly the same subject of child/parent separation, the riveting challenges for those involved, and the complicated political and judicial issues this raises.