It’s only been a couple of years since the release of Ocean Of Slumber’s self-titled album, and while saying they have reinvented their sound would be a complete falsehood, it can be stated that labelling their sound as New Southern Gothic is rather appropriate. While they retain all the heaviness of previous records, the plentiful use of piano with accompanying vocals does give the more sombre pieces a completely different tinge.
The album begins with the “The Waters Rising”, where Dobber Beverly’s slow drum tempo has Cammie Beverly’s beautiful voice singing along to Xan Fernandez and Jessie Santos gentle acoustic guitars, but a subtle tempo change allows the guitars to get heavier as the double kick gets Semir Özerkan’s bass running and Cammie’s vocals to take on a more frantic tilt.
“Hearts of Stone” has gloomy, dusty feel with a gorgeous bass sound filling it all out, allowing the haunting quality of the vocals to rise in tone as well as giving the lead plenty of room to soar.
The bluesy song “The Lighthouse” is exquisitely delivered Americana, I mean New Southern Gothic, with harmonica or most likely Mathew Aleman’s synth adding flavour to the slide guitar and sad vocals.
On every listen, as soon as Cammie starts singing on “Red Forest Roads” I get gooseflesh running down my spine, even in this heat, but then again, she does manage to do that several times on this album. She then starts hitting notes as the drums and guitars get substantially heavier.
Maintaining the melancholic pace, “The Hanging Tree” is very moody as the gentle vocals glide over the keyboards and guitars before “Salvation” carries on the journey, but with a bassline that’s crying for your attention as it flows under the other instruments, and cements the background vocals when they join in.
I feel that up to this point Cammie has just been teasing us with what she’s able to do with her voice, as she shows on “Star Altar” while the guitars have a prog-rock complexion that the doomy drums and bass complement.
“The Spring of 21” is truly haunting in its stripped-down piano delivery, as Dobber plays on his own before his wife joins him as it slips into “Just A Day”, where the piano and vocals convey so many emotions, but once the guitars and keyboards join the fray those emotions feel even more tender and raw.
If you haven’t heard their version of “House of the Rising Sun”, a visualiser is below and I especially love Carla Kihlstedt and Philip Sheegog’s violin and cello that go so well with the way they play the song.
The album ends with “The Shipbuilders Son” which ranges from vocals on their own, to being accompanied by piano, to singing powerfully over subdued guitars with orchestral sounding keyboards filling out the sound.
I thoroughly enjoyed this album in its gentleness but must admit that there were a couple times where I thought having Xan’s death vocals would not have gone amiss however, as can be heard by the final result they were not really required.
(8/10 Marco Gaminara)
Leave a Reply