Flypaper's "Oh Well" is a hymn for anyone lacking direction

The former frontman of Brighton four-piece Beachtape, Sear has already pieced together two solo EPs from the lull of his bedroom, but with "Oh Well" he offers the perfect snapshot of forthcoming album Forget The Rush. It's a song that feels immediately confidential, murmured into your ear – the sound of someone admitting they're a little lost.

Achieving that intimate sound, however, was a slow burn. At first, Sear envisioned Flypaper as a piano-driven, all-guns-blazing Harry Nilsson affair. But somehow placing the piano front and centre didn't translate, and it wasn't until Sear picked up an acoustic guitar and started from scratch that he found his ideas slot into place, using artists like Brian Wilson and Randy Newman as a touchstone.

In "Oh Well", it's the delicate guitar which draws out the downbeat beauty of his lyrics. There's a wistful, yearning quality reminiscent of Elliott Smith, where hushed vocals drive home hard-won wisdom. In earlier releases, Sear seemed preoccupied by the passage of time, and of watching his twenties race by. The same is true of "Oh Well", which finds him making half-hearted resolutions as his reflection stares wearily back.

The accompanying music video takes this feeling and runs with it: a portrait of the artist drifting through London with a kite limp in his hands, unable to take flight. In a washed-out landscape of tube stations and high-rises, he wanders without purpose while couriers zip by. It's a real Monday afternoon of the soul.

But for all the ennui, Sear prefers to poke fun at his own sense of thwarted ambition. Under cover of apathy, "Oh Well" lands upon a truth about the human spirit; that if our lives can't be carefully stage-managed, we may as well surrender to the moment and cut ourselves some slack. Sear is all about that self-awareness, finding a glint of humour among all the charred potential.

"'Oh Well' is a reflective song – inward-looking, looking at yourself or situations and maybe laughing at how tragic they can be or just coming to terms with that," he reflects. "‘Oh well I guess that's life’ is quite a simple sentiment, maybe said with a bit of irony, but still somewhat optimistic."

A hymn for anyone lacking direction, "Oh Well" is a healthy reminder that sometimes taking the path of least resistance can be its own reward. Or else a prettier way of just shrugging, "It is what it is".