Surfing the seas of time for almost two decades, The Ocean have arrived in the here and now. Holocene is the band’s newest long player released on their very own Pelagic Records and named after the current geological epoch, the epoch that saw mankind live long, prosper and shape the planet in unprecedented ways.
Since in the eons-long history of the planet mankind is an exceptional and unusual occurrence, it would make sense for the new album to differ, to set itself apart from the band’s previous, geology-themed output. And it does. As already hinted at on the previous album’s final track, also titled Holocene, synths sounds or electronically generated music seem a logical choice to represent the human element when so far your geology-themed music was mainly produced on standard instruments.
While long-time fans will immediately recognize that they are indeed listening to a new The Ocean album, it will take a while until the band’s established soundscape of gigantic riffs, ingenious drumming and harsh, shouted vocals materializes. For the first few tracks of Holocene, the tunes and the mood are soft and melancholic, with Loïc Rossetti singing exclusively clean. What will the guys from No Clean Singing say to that?
Synths, brass and clean vocals play the main parts in the album’s first few songs, until track number four Atlantic finally brings the long-awaited crushing waves of sound. Unsurprisingly, as we have learned from the press info, Holocene does not only sound different compared to previous albums, but it also had an unusual gestation and growth process. Instead of main man Robin Staps initialising the compositions as had always been the case so far, the new songs are built form musical ideas written by Peter Voigtmann – you guessed it: the synths wizard.
The biggest surprise on Holocene, however, are not the synth-driven tunes or the horns; we heard bits of these elements on previous albums already. Instead, the album’s most unusual and stick-out track is Unconfomities, featuring Karin Park on vocals. Although an artist in her own right, in alternative music circles she is probably best known for her involvement with Årabrot and for collaborating with legendary composer Lustmord. Karin’s voice brings a completely new emotional character to the band’s sound basis, a self-assured tristesse that had not been featured so far. But even more surprising than the addition of Karin’s vocals is the development of the track. I’m not going to spoil the surprise here, but let me just say that the beginning in no way suggests where the track will lead and how it will end. Unconformities, in all its variety, is therefore an excellent representation of the beauty, the order, the progress, the chaos and the destruction that the Holocene had in store for us so far. It is definitely the album’s best track, its highlight and what prevents Holocene from sounding too uniform.
Thematically, the album’s lyrics take on the wide-spread feelings of angst and alienation, but also the loss of reason and critical thinking, the rise of conspiracy theories and erosion of humanist values. The video to Parabiosis deals with the obsession with youth that we are exposed to everywhere and features Robin Staps as plastic surgeon rejuvenating his band and crew members.
What’s next for The Ocean now that they have spent a decade teaching us geology from beginning to end via music? No one knows. I wouldn’t mind if things went in the direction of Unconformities, that would indeed be music for our time, the time of unravelling.
(7/10 Slavica)
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