Oskar Haag Releases LOVER AND HIS LASS Single

20-year-old Austrian musician, dancer and actor Oskar Haag will release his North American debut album, Lost Cause, on September 25 via Lullaby Records. Today, Oskar shares a final pre-release single, 'Lover and His Lass.'

Whereas 'Lost Cause,' the previous single, was still a buoyant waltz in a sonic setting that Beirut would probably have liked as well, the just-over two minutes of 'Lover and his Lass' are the complete opposite. The song is intimate and tender. In its composition, its lyrics and, not least, its fragile, wonderfully simple production, once again the work of the Austrian production powerhouse Lukas Klement and Oskar. This ballad slowly creeps up on you, settles into your ears for a brief moment, and then quietly disappears again. The song is like a warm, gentle summer rain somewhere in a hilly, green landscape as summer begins to fade.

Haag recently previewed the record at Sziget Festival last this month in Hungary and supported Babyshambles at Poolbar Festival in the Austrian Alps. Haag will perform at Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg later this month before a sold-out hometown celebration in Vienna, release night. A European runs October 21 - December 12.

Haag has been a national sensation since his first appearance at just age 16. Although he hadn't released a single song at that point, the Austrian media hailed him, amongst other things, as 'the country's greatest pop talent.'

The follow-up to his acclaimed 2023 debut, Teenage Lullabies, is an ambitious and deeply personal statement from an artist coming into his own. In a world that often feels increasingly uncertain, Lost Cause offers something rare: 14 songs that transform vulnerability into hope, delivering a cathartic listening experience from its opening moments through its breathtaking finale.

From the first notes of lead track 'Leaving Town Tonight,' Haag expands on everything that made his debut so captivating. His songwriting retains its trademark intimacy and emotional honesty, while embracing a broader, richer sonic palette shaped by newfound confidence and experience. The result is a collection that feels both fragile and resilient, youthful yet remarkably assured.

If Lost Cause hasn't already won listeners over by its final moments, its penultimate track, 'Der Kuss,' almost certainly will. Inspired by Gustav Klimt's iconic painting The Kiss, the song was conceived when an 18-year-old Haag first encountered the masterpiece, with its melody arriving in the gallery itself and its lyrics born directly from that experience:

'Give me your love and all of your fears / Give me the kiss / The one that Klimt was thinking about / Wear your flower crown / I want to paint our bodies gold.'

A fitting emotional crest to an album that celebrates love, beauty and human connection, Lost Cause confirms Oskar Haag as one of Europe's most compelling young songwriters and artists.

Alongside his music career, Haag continues to establish himself as an actor. In 2024 Oskar landed a starring role in the hit film 'Mit einem Tiger schlafen,' alongside Austrian superstar Birgit Minichmayr as none other than the young and late world-famous painter Arnulf Rainer. In the past four years, Haag has also appeared in multiple Shakespeare productions at the Burgtheater in Vienna – Europe's leading theatre. His second feature film, Mila/Marija, premieres this autumn.

With 'Lover and his Lass,' Oskar Haag is pushing even further towards the place where he has long belonged: into the bodies and hearts of all those who can tell a good song from a bad one. All those who, like the singer himself, are capable of recognizing pure beauty. In another person, perhaps. In a landscape. In art. Or perhaps simply in a fleeting song…

Lost Cause Track List

01. Leaving Town Tonight

02. Lost Cause

03. Face

04. Wind

05. Sailor and the Sea

06. I Wish Change Was Real

07. Still Dressed In Gold

08. The Day

09. Interlude

10. Parents

11. Say What You Want

12. Lover and His Lass

13. Surf Song

14. Der Kuss

15. Drop Out

Photo Credit: Michelle Rassnitzer

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