A bruised, funny, painfully honest ode to pub gardens, purgatory, and the tiny joys that keep us going.
Oswald Slain has always written like a man trying to make sense of the mess, the chaos of youth, the slow creep of adulthood, the uneasy truce between ambition and anxiety. But on his new single ‘Heaven Is The Place’ (out June 26th), the Bristol songwriter turns his gaze somewhere far more sacred: the local pub.
It’s a track that feels both lived‑in and strangely transcendent, a love letter to crisp summer afternoons, Guinness, Marlboro Golds, and the fleeting moments where life briefly stops spinning. It’s also one of his most candid pieces of storytelling to date, bruised, self‑aware, and quietly euphoric.
The song began, fittingly, in a pub garden. After a year‑long writing block, Fitz, the voice and pen behind Oswald Slain, found the breakthrough he’d been waiting for the moment he started drinking again.
“Crisp Summer’s day, pub garden, four pints of Guinness, 20 Marlboro Golds, a couple of mates. Done.”
That blunt honesty is the beating heart of ‘Heaven Is The Place’. It’s not romanticised. It’s not dressed up. It’s simply the truth: sometimes heaven is a moment of stillness, a familiar table, and the people who know you best.
The track’s namesake pub, Sugar Loaf in Bristol, becomes a symbol, not of escapism, but of acceptance. A place where clarity arrives uninvited, pint in hand.
Musically, the single sits in that sweet spot Oswald Slain has carved out for himself: Americana with a British twist, all rolling rhythms, fuzzy guitars, and a chorus built to be shouted back at him from festival fields.
Critics have already clocked the evolution:
Backseat Mafia called his sound “Americana with a British twist… and one of this year’s best choruses.” - Babystep Magazine praised its “raw energy… nostalgic and refreshingly bold.” - 1883 Magazine dubbed it “the sound of rebirth: messy, honest, and utterly captivating.”
Recorded at his DIY home studio with Ryan Rogers (Mumble Tide), mixed by Jon Logan, and mastered by Pete Maher (Pixies, Paul Weller, Nick Cave, Jack White), the track carries the warmth of old retro rock records but with a modern, self‑effacing wink.
At its core, ‘Heaven Is The Place’ is a song about purgatory, the strange middle ground between success and failure, clarity and confusion, ambition and burnout.
Fitz puts it plainly:
“I often feel trapped in purgatory waiting for something to happen as an artist… Though there are moments where clarity, acceptance and a humbling gratefulness step in.”
That tension, between surrender and hope, is what gives the track its emotional weight. It’s funny, but it’s not a joke. It’s sad, but it’s not self‑pitying. It’s honest in a way that feels both deeply personal and universally recognisable.
Since the release of his debut EP ‘KISS ME ON THE MOUTH’ in 2025, Oswald Slain has been steadily building a reputation as one of the UK’s most compelling new voices. Support from SiriusXM, Apple Music editorial, Rough Trade’s Counter Culture, Ones To Watch, RTÉ, KUTX, and ASBO Magazine has helped propel him from Bristol’s DIY scene to festival stages across the UK.
His debut album ‘BUCKY’, released just six months after the EP, cemented that rise, earning him slots at Shambala, The Great Estate, Kendal Calling, and Wilderness Festival.
Live, he’s a force: funny, soulful, unpredictable, and capable of breaking your heart and fixing it again in the space of a verse.
More than anything, this single feels like a moment of grounding. A reminder that joy doesn’t always arrive in grand gestures, sometimes it’s a pint, a cigarette, a friend, a breeze, a moment where everything feels briefly, beautifully fine.
