O-Sky Lochmandy talks creative inspirations, finding his musical footing
The Chapman musician spoke with The Panther about the inspirations behind his music, the Florida music scene and future plans. Photo by Mason Hipp, photos courtesy of O-Sky Lochmandy
Growing up in Orlando, Florida, O-Sky Lochmandy remembers listening to “Loving You” by Minnie Ripperton and “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley and the Wailers when he was only two years old. To Lochmandy, the songs represented the world’s beauty and served as his first association with music.
The senior television writing and production major started playing guitar around age eight and began working in the music industry the following year. He began his career playing at coffee shops, senior centers and open-mic nights. After convincing others of his talent, he moved on to biker and beach bars, festivals, farmers’ and flea markets and performing with the grassroots music movement Swamp Sistas. No matter where he went, Lochmandy felt welcomed and embraced by the Florida music scene.
“To be brought into the world of music from that end was really nice. I feel like nowadays, there’s such a commercial and Hollywood kind of feel, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s very different from what music really can be at its core. I kind of got a little bit of a different experience coming into that whole environment.”
The Panther approached Lochmandy to discuss his journey as a musician, his musical goals and his creative processes.
One of Lochmandy’s earliest “idols” was a musician named “Sharky,” who went to college with his parents and played guitar at parties. Passionate about music, Lochmandy’s dad treated his son with dignity, agreeing to support his career as long as he took the path seriously.
Releasing music as “O-Sky,” the songwriter’s biggest artistic influences are Jason Mraz and Brandi Carlile. He connects with those musicians’ storytelling abilities and their calming sound, but his taste also includes ABBA and Latin music.
“I’m a fan of a lot of different types of things, and I don’t set out to write a song in a specific feel,” Lochmandy said. “Whenever I’m writing a song that is for myself, it just ends up being kind of more of that classic, contemplative type of thing.”
Recent projects for the creative include the “comedy-romance concept album” “47 Songs About Margellica” — with all 47 songs being written by Lochmandy, his twin and a friend across a week-long span during interterm. The album was released on Feb. 29.
Lochmandy is also helping launch “Florida Reconnaissance,” a creative community of friends and musicians with multiple upcoming projects, including songs, EPs and even a musical. He also hopes to eventually release an O-Sky album.
The musician shared a recent accomplishment of his. First planned as a photo shoot, Lochmandy’s song “Never, Again” was developed around a nautical theme featuring a fisherman who is half-fish. As ideas expanded, the shoot eventually became a music video.
“I wanted to write a song to (the theme) that would take the idea from the story of the music video and be able to contrast it and play against it in a very complimentary way,” Lochmandy said. “I had had this little verse about, ‘Do you wonder, could it ever be real? I dreamed so many things that I lost it to the way I feel.’”
The chorus was inspired by Lochmandy’s conflicting feelings about reaching for opportunities and dreams that may feel unattainable or may not prove to be as good as he hoped.
“That was something that I had written during the process of college applications and other personal things in life where I felt like I wanted something. It was something that I, on one hand, knew that I was deserving of and almost felt was meant for me, but (it) was also something so logistically impossible or totally unrealistic,” Lochmandy said. “You want to believe in yourself, and you want to believe in things happening in life, and then it’s also so unattainable and almost shameful to want something that you can’t have.”
One of Lochmandy’s personal favorites from his catalog is “Second Generation.” The song was inspired by the idea of viewing the world beautifully because of the people around him. Lochmandy was also inspired by his upbringing and his family’s hard work.
When writing music, Lochmandy tries to harness his creativity to produce pieces that are both relatable and inspired by specific ideas and experiences.
“Something that I was taught when I was beginning to song-write — and I don’t actually know if I agree with this — but the philosophy that I was taught was, ‘You wanna write a song that’s specific but (also) vague enough so that people can relate their own life to it.’”
Lochmandy continued: “ I find that walking the line between channeling a very specific feeling and moment and emotion while also broadening it up so that it’s relatable, it’s a fun challenge, but it’s when you can hit that, it’s really cool.”
Students interested in learning more about Lochmandy’s music can find the creative on Instagram and TikTok, and his music is available across all music streaming platforms.