Video premiere: The Only Ocean, ‘Watch It Fall’

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The Only Ocean (Photo by Sabrina Gutierrez)

The Only Ocean’s swirling take on indie-rock grabs a page from the urgent neo-shoegazers, psych-rockers and post-punk bands of the Aughts who found catharsis in giant splashes of guitar and choppy rhythms.

Formed by singer-songwriter-guitarist Wesley Hill in his hometown of Lompoc, the Only Ocean released a full-length in 2015 and followed up with a handful of singles and EPs, including two three-song releases last year. Having migrated south to L.A., Hill is now joined by guitarist Tamara Simons, bassist Jordan Kaufman and drummer Jonathan Palmquist.

“Watch It Fall,” out via Side Hustle Records (Mara Connor, Waltzer), is an identity crisis writ large by buzzing guitars. Silversun Pickups and Foals come to mind.

“It’s [about] the feeling of being afraid to be in your shoes and wanting to become someone else to fit in,” Hill says. “It’s the feeling of hiding and being afraid of your truest form and willing to be someone else in front of loved ones and strangers. The feeling of constantly putting on an act or show and then losing yourself.” “Wish I could dress in the way that you dress / Head to toe black so obsessed so complex,” Hill sings.

Today’s release of the new single, the quartet’s first of 2020, comes with a video directed by Joshua Drew.

||| Watch: The video “Watch It Fall”

||| Also: Stream “Hold On Me” and “Still You Won’t”