Alexander O’Connor a.k.a. Rex Orange County blends his sophisticated songwriting with elements of jazz, hip-hop, soul and bedroom electronica to amaze his fans with a distinctive soulful sound. Another young talent emerging in the industry, the 20 year old debuted in 2015 self-releasing album “Bcos U Will Never B Free” on SoundCloud, which lead him to English record producer, “Two Inch Punch”. The pair forged a collaborative partnership with O’Connor working withs several other big name artists to produce a variety of singles from 2015-2017. His second album “Apricot Princess” was released in 2017 putting him on the charts and his latest release “New House” signals the release of new music this year.

Apricot Dreams Record Art

 

My introduction into the effortlessly cool prodigy

 

Rex Orange County first arrived in my playlist in 2017 with hit single “Loving is Easy”. The tune has the perfect toe tapping beat mixing catchy melodies with soulful lyrics. It’s an easily listenable song and what drew me to the artist’s distinctive sound. Listen below as he performs the hit single on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon”.

 

the audience is his choir

This is one of the first clips of Rex Orange County performing that I discovered and whilst it is a cover of Alicia Keys hit song “No One” his distinctive soulful sound does the pop artists hit justice. The crowd however, is what amazes me the most about this live performance. What makes live music as special an experience as it is is often the crowd of punters. Thousands of people singing along in tune all together to one man on stage works together to create a beautiful choir effect. This performance encompasses the main reason of why I go see live music, to experience the rare magic of it.

 

you’ve just missed him

If I’ve hooked you on the talented new name and you’re dying to watch him perform I’m afraid you’ve just missed his short stint in Australia. He performed at the Australian touring festival Laneway back in February this year and his sideshows in Sydney sold out in record time.

If you’re setting sail outside of Australia in the next coming months click here to see where you can catch him.