Lavish Obituaries is a recent arrival on the Tulsa scene with only two singles released thus far. Still, with these songs they’ve shown serious promise in groovy, genre-bending experimentation.
Living together as roommates, Cassidy Reed, Nik Natale, and Garrett Steelman formed this group in November 2020. Their fourth roommate, Rebecca Rayon serves as the group’s main photographer. In recent months, the creative quad has been cooking up various artistic projects in their apartment/studio.
Prior to becoming Lavish Obituaries, Nik and Garrett had another project: NIKSTEEL. Then, when Nik and Cassidy met on Tinder, the trio discovered their mutual passion for music and fashion and a common creativite drive. Soon they were hard at work meshing their styles together.
“We had this playlist of completed or near-completed songs on Nik’s computer and just got tired of sitting on them,” Cassidy wrote in an email. “…But we knew we had to plant the seed to start growing.”
Their debut single “Shotgun to the Moon” is that seed. The song’s groove comes from a heavenly beat, keyboard dreamscapes, and the interplay of their voices. Cassidy provides something like a poem near the song’s end that sends you sailing away…maybe to the moon.
Cassidy used to do music journalism, which gave her a healthy genre-palette. Their influences are far and wide. “Music is vibrational,” Cassidy explained, “I put my vibrations on a track, and they’re mixed with the vibrations Nik and Garrett both have…”
Because their songs are on the longer side (4 and 5 minutes), they have the effect of taking their listener on a journey. “I really envision Lavish forming this colorfully vibrant animated universe,” Garrett wrote. “Sort of like a cowboy bebop/adventure time/Gorillaz mashup) with a heavy fantasy feel that’s outer-worldly.”
With their second single “Kiss It,” Lavish Obituaries sinks you into a sensual universe. “Kiss it/Touch it/Squeeze it/You need it,” is sung cooly over the simple yet compelling mix. The song is, simply put, a bop.
When asked about their aspirations, Nik replied simply: “I would say our end goal is to not have to work a 9-5 anymore and put out good music.”
Until they can quit their day jobs, Lavish Obituaries will keep producing sensational singles.
“We want to tell stories, whether with pictures, physical art, merch, videos or whatever,” said Cassidy. “We want every song to have other things for listeners to explore, more ways to bond with our art.”
Check out their music and follow them on instagram @lavishobituaries to check out their dope visuals.
Star Catcher Magazine 