WEDNESDAY AUG 22, 2018
Absence of Ocean
"Absence of Ocean's dreamy new single "We Don't Sleep" is now available for download and streaming absenceofocean.bandcamp.com
Absence of Ocean is a shoegaze band from Atlanta, that incorporates both post-rock and electronic elements to create lush soundscapes within hypnotic songs. With their sound Absence of Ocean has supported acts such as Whirr, NOTHING and EXITMUSIC. Absence of Ocean is currently in the studio.
'“We Don’t Sleep” offers, which is, namely, a sound that aspires to the sort of sublime, upward-climbing shoegaze the band has become known for while also venturing into the dark romanticism of ’80s goth-tinged pop. There are vocals on the track — you can read the lyrics on Bandcamp — but they’re muddled and lost in the song’s noisy din. Sonically they’re just another texture, another hazy veil to layer against the backdrop of dense guitars and clamorous squall of windswept static. The approach isn’t so much about obfuscation as it is about mood-building, and here the band sounds positively radiant, even as they pile on the emotional tension."
-Immersive Atlanta
"Absence of Ocean’s “Dream House” opens without color, lowering you into the desolate gloom of an endless, grayscale drift dive: the stark contrast of black and white melted away into a wavering, grainy approximation of the two. It’s a slow but decided free fall into a leaden ocean, spiraling away from the bleak light of an overcast sky and the water’s surface with each pulse of the drum machine. A permanent descent into a violently echoed and distorted abyss, clouded not by the manic dread of drowning but with the calm acceptance of the lack of oxygen.
And in those final moments as your brain succumbs to carbon dioxide poisoning, the immutable depth softens to reveal brain dead hallucinations that resolve the nothingness into a languid tapestry of faded neon lights. Waves that slowly fade away in a blurry halo of vision, only to be taunted by one last glimmering shine of color in the final seconds of the song.
It drones and moans but never becomes stagnant, an impressive soundscape for the modest five-minute run time allotted to this particular ambient-dream-pop gem."
-Will Guerin (90.5 WUOG Athens 7/4/13)"
"Absence of Ocean's dreamy new single "We Don't Sleep" is now available for download and streaming absenceofocean.bandcamp.com
Absence of Ocean is a shoegaze band from Atlanta, that incorporates both post-rock and electronic elements to create lush soundscapes within hypnotic songs. With their sound Absence of Ocean has supported acts such as Whirr, NOTHING and EXITMUSIC. Absence of Ocean is currently in the studio.
'“We Don’t Sleep” offers, which is, namely, a sound that aspires to the sort of sublime, upward-climbing shoegaze the band has become known for while also venturing into the dark romanticism of ’80s goth-tinged pop. There are vocals on the track — you can read the lyrics on Bandcamp — but they’re muddled and lost in the song’s noisy din. Sonically they’re just another texture, another hazy veil to layer against the backdrop of dense guitars and clamorous squall of windswept static. The approach isn’t so much about obfuscation as it is about mood-building, and here the band sounds positively radiant, even as they pile on the emotional tension."
-Immersive Atlanta
"Absence of Ocean’s “Dream House” opens without color, lowering you into the desolate gloom of an endless, grayscale drift dive: the stark contrast of black and white melted away into a wavering, grainy approximation of the two. It’s a slow but decided free fall into a leaden ocean, spiraling away from the bleak light of an overcast sky and the water’s surface with each pulse of the drum machine. A permanent descent into a violently echoed and distorted abyss, clouded not by the manic dread of drowning but with the calm acceptance of the lack of oxygen.
And in those final moments as your brain succumbs to carbon dioxide poisoning, the immutable depth softens to reveal brain dead hallucinations that resolve the nothingness into a languid tapestry of faded neon lights. Waves that slowly fade away in a blurry halo of vision, only to be taunted by one last glimmering shine of color in the final seconds of the song.
It drones and moans but never becomes stagnant, an impressive soundscape for the modest five-minute run time allotted to this particular ambient-dream-pop gem."
-Will Guerin (90.5 WUOG Athens 7/4/13)"