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Rating: Oceansize got it all wrong. Or rather, they got the wrong era. Can ten years be considered an "era"? When it comes to the assimilation of music, definitely yes. Ten years ago, there was your favorite magazine, your monthly bible, the new world, or so you thought. Ten years ago, you would show up at your trusted shop drooling with a list of names this long. Ten years ago, you would come home, unpack the CD and booklet in hand, huge headphones on your head, press play and everything would turn off. . . and turn on at the same time. Ten years ago, you could LIVE a band like Oceansize, savor every phrase, grasp every nuance, expanding into their world. . . you could LISTEN to them, in short.
Today, Oceansize risk going unnoticed, discarded outright for their seven-minute average, or not fully understood due to their lack of immediacy. But the risk is ours, the greed for "more of everything, immediately" thanks to P2P might make us miss one of the most interesting bands of the moment. After the masterpiece “Effloresce” from 2003 and the equally superb EP “Music For Nurses,” the five from Manchester churn out a challenging album despite more pronounced melodic lines compared to the past. As I write, their sound grows, expanding little by little, until it fills the room. Trapped, it becomes claustrophobic, imploding in the space-time, trying to take me with it into another dimension, theirs, the Oceansize. In a certain sense, they could remind you of Amplifier, not by chance fellow citizens: same long apprenticeship, same explosive debut, similar basic references. Although Oceansize, besides having a significantly lesser impact, emphasize English influences more, those of Radiohead (“Ornament The Last Wrongs,” dreamy electronics), Muse (“A Homage To A Shame,” devastating, the noisiest ever), and early Porcupine Tree (“You Can't Keep A Bad Man Down”). But you will also find a hint of Soundgarden (“The Charme Offensive,” if only Cornell would decide to sing an octave lower, these would be the results) and many Dredg-esque atmospheres (“Music For A Nurse,” wonderful). But these are all references that appear like flashes in the evolution of the tracks, luminous spots that allow strong lines to be drawn, highlighting a very strong personality since the debut, because after all, Oceansize doesn't mimic anyone while embracing a wide range of sounds.
I hope I've whetted your appetite but please, not at McDonald's. This time set the table properly, pour yourself a good red, and enjoy the filet at leisure. . . possibly rare.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 The Charm Offensive (07:19)
Senses oh how could you fail us now
Check your heart still makes a hissing sound
It's just another name for sorcery
We still believe in what we never see
Our perception is but a camera trick
Authority a uniform
Another name for a second chance
You offer more
The sophomore.
Gold mouth at full voice refuse this should be our choice
We take this lying down, take this lying
And it burns, it burns us all out
As it blows
Everyone into position.
We love to lie and pretend that it's ok
We love to save all these words til another day
So don't think on your feet, cos you sink from your feet up.
Are you flirting with me?
Charm offensive, perma-pensive
Dream it all away
Some may kill you as you continue
To lie for us I pray.
But I'm rooting for you, I'm rooting for everyone.
They've sold us out again and thrown us in the fire
They say we're all the same
Well, yeah, but we're not liars.
03 Heaven Alive (06:21)
I patiently wait for my turn
While you fill the gaps with a bold empathic love.
Hey... is it coming over you?
Hey there... we should come together, wait on something new.
And christ alive! Am I dilating
My inhibitions soon dissipating
Can we afford to stay this way forever and forever.. amen.
This release inside of me
Is like my heaven calling
Endless possibilities
Are my defences falling down.
And all the while the strobing flicker
Of fireworks I'm peaking quicker
Than I ever have or ever will again.
Cut to pieces
Your friend in jesus
Pledge allegiance
And all's forgiven.
05 Meredith (05:26)
Gravity, gravity, why oh why you try to fail me
Never you mind, never you mind, never you mind it's entertaining
Is for a while, just for a while, your crocodile smile now is fading
Maybe I lied, maybe I lied, maybe I lied but it's entertaining.
Oh how I'd cut you to the bone.
Oh how I'd cut you to the bone.
This creeping and seething
I pour it on to make you grow
While I'm waiting for the lights to change.
Your love that is weakening
A last embrace before you go
Are you waiting for the lights to change.
Why try to fight, why try to fight, holding on tight but your hands are shaking
I'm pulling you down, pulling you down, from this dream you are never waking
What cannot see, what cannot see, what cannot see cannot try to lead me
I know my own mind, know my own mind, know my own mind and I'm not crazy.
06 Music for a Nurse (08:16)
And a piece of the pictures bitten right out of the middle
I'm alone and thinner I feel
Is this a prayer?
Anaesthetise me just til you return
I feel the loss like a squandered opportunity to whisper
You're all I ever needed.
Shapes fall into place
For once in your life you make
A clean breakaway.
And did you know that everything you touch is blessed and all the richer
For your love a better being
And if I display just a fraction of the soul you showed in this world
Then I know I'll see you again
Love so much to give
And too few to share it with
Wastes you away.
The dream it comes again and again
You're here
It's you
I pull you close and
Hold you tight
Into the sky you go
You go
And I can't change it
I can't change it.
07 New Pin (05:11)
In goodness wake I'll always say I do,
That it's all for you
And tricks I'd turn would always shine right through,
But it's all for you.
Like a stream overflowing
Unpredictable
A new confidence like a new king.
Like a breeze levitating
To raise a sunken soul
And to the surface shines like a new pin.
What junkie says is not what junkie do,
But it's all for you
And the tricks he turns will always shine right through,
But it's all for you.
Like a dream synchronising
With the one I missed the most
A concentrated love from a new queen.
Like a wave stabilising
I walk a tighter rope
And my new victim shines like a new pin.
I can feel lies within the
Gospels that I'm sold
The tactless sentiments are a new pain.
But it's all for you.
08 No Tomorrow (07:10)
Goes, it comes and goes
Although you try to hide it always shows
And I try never to pretend I know
You flick that safety catch and off we...
Go! go! shoot him down, shoot him down
(Reap?) and sow the only thing you've left to show
In faith, against your faith
That carves a look of love in to your face
As if you look proud of this disgrace
Accelerate and charging through the days
You try not to listen anyway, not this day
Regardless of the words i had to say
Reputation's not alibi
Go! go! shoot him down, shoot him down
(Reap?) and sow the only thing you've left to show
(my time is your time there wont be a later)
What do you see when you close your eyes
Like royalty or magic numbers or
Popular opinion just to prove that you are right
A sugar spoon feed in with draw
And still needing for more
I ask you why you try
The lights that guide you will burn and blind you
No tomorrow
No tomorrow
What cannot speak cannot lie I beg for more patience
But you're still wasting, I should not (make?) apologies
Find a face, put it on
Pretend there's no tomorrow
Find a face, put it on
Pretend there's no tomorrow
09 Mine Host (04:10)
Numb numb and fearful friend
Can you hear me crying calling out your name
It's easy to apportion bucketloads of blame
When you're distant
When you're invisible of blame cos you're here
Blame cos you're here
Would've never thought that I'd be your defendant
I would be a criminal investigation
Needing to believe that faith could make a difference
Need to forget my name when you're here
I hope this pays you off
11 Ornament/The Last Wrongs (09:23)
Signs the signs invisible
Trace the trail and follow you wherever you will lead me
To the heart of me and your spilling grief
To answer to a God who never answers you
Feathernest invest and gain
Shiny brass is milk and grain
And yours is to just sustain and chip away with haste
Treasure time and savor taste
And all the while you quietly crave and crave
The day is done
Time you've made has come and gone
Stay asleep now
Everyone into position
Everyone into their place
Grow to grow at snail's pace
Like carnivores at grace
Feed to feed and building face
Pay to play and find a place
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