Oceanator
Oceanator (photo by Alex Joseph)

Oceanator releasing EP on Tiny Engines (stream 2 songs)

You may know Brooklyn musician Elise Okusami as one of the drummers on Vagabon‘s debut album Infinite Worlds, but she also makes music on her own as Oceanator that fans of Vagabon would most likely dig. Last year she released a great self-titled EP that bridged the gap between acoustic bedroom folk, synthpop, and grungy indie rock, and she has now signed to Tiny Engines for a followup EP, Lows, which comes out on April 13 (pre-order). Going by lead singles “Mistakes” and “Inhuman,” the latter of which premieres in this post, it looks like Elise is diving deeper into her grungy indie rock influences on this one. Both songs are dark, driving and intense, and Elise knows how to get heavy without sacrificing her melodic side.

“Mistakes” is the more immediately accessible of the two, but the nearly-six-minute “Inhuman” shows a level of ambition that you might not have expected from the first single. It starts out minimal and quiet, but in a more haunting way than her earlier bedroom folk, and without warning Elise piles on a wall of shoegazy sludge metal guitars, all without losing an ounce of focus in her dead-serious singing. Later in the song, when she brings her voice to a roar, you might get chills. Listen below.

Oceanator also have live dates coming up, including hometown shows on March 27 at Goldsounds with Eliza and the Organix and Miss Olithea (tickets); April 15 at Alphaville with Haybaby and Goodie (tickets); and May 8 at Arlene’s Grocery with The Dirty Mops, Another Astronaut and Typhoid Rosie (tickets). The Alphaville show is the EP release show and she says that one is “the next full band Brooklyn show” so she’s presumably playing solo at Goldsounds. All dates are listed below.

Oceanator — 2018 Tour Dates
MAR 27 – Brooklyn, NY @ Goldsounds w/ Eliza and the Organix, Miss Olithea
APR 07 – Richmond, VA @ My Noodle And Bar
APR 09 – Raleigh, NC @ Slim’s
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 21 – Detroit, MI @ Ghost Light
APR 25 – Cincinnati, OH @ The Comet
MAY 08 – New York, NY @ Arlene’s Grocery w/ The Dirty Mops, Another Astronaut, Typhoid Rosie