EP premiere stream : Lows - Oceanator

When it comes to expressing our deepest and most enraged emotions we're often conditioned to keep it inside. In the aftermath of heartbreak or in the process of growing it's easier to shove those feelings aside, and continue on, to allow the moments that frustrated you or broke you to remain unaddressed. All those feelings that you kept tucked away in journals or crevices of your heart; the memories that may have hurt, but made you stronger as a person — that's what Oceantor addresses on Lows. The five-track EP from Elise Okusami is angry, but in a way that's healthy and freeing. While Okusami's musings on moments including a seemingly perfect relationship that's filled with "Mistakes" to the "Inhuman" treatment experienced at the hands of someone once trusted are personal, they also stand as an invitation to the listern to confront and embrace these feelings. From the gunning and guttural strings of "Coming Home"to the surprisingly slowed down, but still ferocious twang of "Tell Me," Lows is a moving exploration into some seriously personal emotions.

As Elise explains: "The five songs on this record are all about some pretty low points in my life, all for different reasons and definitely to varying degrees. Writing them definitely helped me work through a lot. And they’re some of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. Coming Home, Mistakes, and Inhuman were all written around the same time. Those three were recorded with my friends Eva Lawitts, Jamie Ingalls, and Mark Craig. We went into the studio and tracked the three songs together live, and then I went back in and added all my lead guitar parts and the noise stuff at the end of ‘Inhuman.’ I hadn’t quite finished the lyrics then so I ended up doing those in my brother’s studio a few months later when I could get down to Maryland. ‘Not Around’ and ‘Tell Me’ are a little older. I recorded those track by track. I played all the instruments on ‘Tell Me’ and everything but the drums on “Not Around,” which my brother played. He’s really great to record with. We’ve been playing music together for a long time so I don’t have to use very many words for him to get what sort of sound I’m going for with each song as far as gear and mixing and stuff. ’Not Around’ I actually wrote a long time ago on a trip to Los Angeles. It was before I had an iPhone or something that could record, and I got the bass line and the vocal line in my head while I was out for a walk and just had to sing them to myself for an hour until I got back to the house so I wouldn’t forget them. The cover photo is a shot I took when I went out to New Zealand a few years ago."

Lows is out 4/13 on Tiny Engines. Preorder you copy here.

Tour Dates:

APR 13 - Philadelphia, PA @ House Show
APR 15 - Brooklyn, NY @ Alphaville w/ Goodie, Haybaby (record release show)
APR 16 - Littleton, NH @ The Loading Dock
APR 17 - Burlington, VT @ Study Hall
APR 18 - Troy, NY @ River Street Pub
APR 21 - Detroit, MI @ Ghost Light
APR 22 - Chicago, IL @ Quenchers
APR 24 - Cincinnati, OH @ Extra Muscle