Kevin Bronson on May 2nd, 2018

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Possible Oceans are a fledgling L.A. indie outfit trading in the brooding, erudite rock of bands like the National (and, locally, the dearly departed NO/Black English). It’s the collaboration of singer-guitarists Trevor O’Neill and Daniel Berkman, whose partnership goes back a few years to the band Sympathetic Frequencies. Joining up with bassist Josh Nyback and drummer Brian Henspeter, the duo have been working on an EP with producer Aki Ehara (The Seshen).

The first single is “Deceiver,” released in April. Thrumming along insistently, the song is a warning that sometimes the demons win but defeat is not inevitable. “I can’t keep from thinking / that I’m never where I am / that the needle’s always skipping / like I’m sinking in the sand,” O’Neill sings, clawing for that lifeline we know we shouldn’t have needed in the first place.

Possible Oceans’ EP, “Phase Change,” is tentatively scheduled for a summer release.

||| Stream: “Deceiver”