Oceanator is the project of Elise Okusami, a Brooklyn based guitarist and vocalist. She plays great blues rock -- just kind of straight up rock and roll guitar with solos and noodling. And she has a lovely voice as well, which she uses to great effect on this EP.
It starts off with guitar tinkling on Coming Home. After the guitar has meandered for a while, the drums hit and her voice comes in, breathy and kind of distant while her guitar shirrs away. This is a great rocker, all of the music just hurtling forward.
Mistakes is a little slower, the guitar chugging and her voice droning. The subject matter is sad as Okusami sings about the mistakes she made when younger. However, the music the she sings over has a hint of aggression, as if she is also annoyed at her younger self for doing those stupid things. I get that, and it makes this song really work.
On Not Around Okusami adds in some keyboards under a funky guitar riff. This gives the song a nice dance rock swagger.
Tell Me is the low point on the record. This is a slow ballad, her voice barely utilized and the guitar keeping a plain 1990s indie rock riff. It's not a bad song, but she does so much better with everything else here. The genericness is striking.
Finally the EP ends with Inhuman, which starts out slow and delicate. She sings very personally here, singing to her ex. The song builds to a frenzy with her screaming at this person. And all that i can say to that is, yeah, Elise, your ex was a jerk. Sorry. I hope that this song helps you purge some of the negativity that you got from that relationship. It's an intense song, if the lyrics are somewhat uncomfortable to listen to.
But Okusami has a lot going on here. I look forward to hearing more from her.
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