There seems to be a lot of psych-influenced music bouncing around at the moment, unless of course you ask Kevin Parker (then the Australian psych scene is dead). But contrary to the opinion of Tame Impala’s front-man, in what seems to be a bid to bring back the era of the hippy, bands like The Good Sports, Upskirts and Pink Harvest are all producing some killer psych inspired, fuzzed out tunes. Joining these psych lords is no other than Sydney’s Ocean Alley, who produce a slightly tweaked version of psych-rock by throwing in a whole lot of reggae.
Psych and Reggae make sweet, sweet love on Muddy Water, the sleek yet brooding new track from Ocean Alley. Like Batman in a Lamborghini.
There is always a risk with mixing and crossing between genres, it’s all too easy for the music to sound messy and unfinished with no real direction. But the boys from Ocean Alley do it so fucking well. They have managed to make the smoothness of reggae and infectiousness of psych twang mould perfectly, and the result is pure bliss. Their new track Muddy Water is no exception. Although it has quite a different sound to the a lot of their earlier music, the unmistakable psych undertones come out to play from the get go, and are followed by subtle reggae and blues sounds that creep out through Baden Donegal’s soulful and seductive vocals.
It holds a calmness that would perfectly fit the mood of a chilled out, tropical island shindig, but still exudes a catchiness that will leave you wanting to keep the tune on repeat. Through the slowness of the song, and lyrics like “I need to cleanse my… I need to wash my soul,” a maturity comes through, reverberating around your brain and soul.
Muddy Water was recorded and produced in Sydney’s Studios 301 with Callum Howell. Speaking of how Muddy Water came about the band said: “Baden had the chords kicking around for a while and we thought it would be perfect for a slightly slower, more moody song to finish the EP with. It all sort of just fell into place when we started playing around with it. We wanted it to have a slight ambiance to it too, keeps the mood flowing.”
Ocean Alley’s second EP, In Purple is being released independently on August 28 and has been totally self-funded by the boys. They also have a massive couple of months of touring coming up, which will see them hit up Western Australia before they kick off their eight-date In Purple east coast tour on September 6. With Ocean Alley playing so many shows, you’ve got no excuse to not join the party and show these boys some lovin’!
