‘Love Balloon’: Ocean Alley embrace escape on their new album
Despite the persistent turbulence of the modern world, Australian psychedelic rock six-piece Ocean Alley are in their own undeniable groove. On their upcoming fifth album, Love Balloon, that only becomes truer as it becomes more intentional.
On a fizzing Zoom screen, keyboardist and vocalist Lach Galbraith smiles back at me. We are splayed across polar opposite time zones, unified only by a pesky mosquito in both of our rooms. Annoyance aside, Galbraith is evidently beaming. When I congratulate him on the new project, he is quick to share that it is “the most proud we’ve been out of any of the stuff that we’ve released in the past.”
The alternative pop-rock outfit have been uplifting fans since their formation in 2011. Their sonic palette is smooth, all melodic bass riffs and sunshine-soaked synths. But behind the soft charge, they fight a world of expectation, no more than on their upcoming release. Galbraith brands it “a thoughtful process, this one more than we’ve had in the past.”
This is because, though their mission is decidedly the same, they must evolve, or, ashamedly, fade out. “As an artist, you have to evolve,” Galbraith insists. “I don’t want to say ‘do better than you did last time’, but it has to be different.” But this evolution cannot be forced; to get it right, it must be the most natural thing in the world, like taking off your shoes before running on the sand.
“We’re honest people. We’re honest with ourselves, and we’re not trying to be anything more than we are,” Gallbraith shrugs. Their tune ‘Confidence’ has reached platinum six times over and has been used by Ferrari and Wimbledon. If they aren’t ever trying to be anything more, are they still not attempting to uphold a crazy level of success? Don’t they feel the shadow of that song on their neck?
I can hear the catchy bars in my head as Gallbraith answers. “You can’t fight what the general public thinks. The fucking internet is full of comments and criticism, so all we strive to do is just move forward. We don’t really necessarily think ‘Confidence’ is our greatest work, because, you know, great work is just work that keeps on coming out.”
And so it did. One of the upcoming tracks that might have a fighting chance to become just as popular as their 2018 hit is ‘Sweet Boy’, the fourth song on the new album, which offsets radiant riffs and a soaring, bending guitar line with heartfelt lyrics. Like most of Gallbraith’s stories, when I ask to dive deeper, a sweet tale of friendship unfolds.
Amid the gruelling duration of a never-ending tour, Ocean Alley would look forward to one thing in particular. Their guitar-tech would wake them up at the border of different countries with the high-pitched call, “Sweet boys!” making the bleary-eyed hours a little more manageable. Though the title was a warm anecdote, the lyrics are anything but: One of the band members “had a rough time” and wrote the lyrics as a “sad reflection on himself”, Galbraith shares, careful with his words. A tale of survival and honesty lies behind the jangly melodies.
‘Sweet Boy’, like most of the songs on the album, totals almost four minutes. It’s a pattern that Galbraith insists was intentional in response to our attention-deficient society. Take PinkPantheress’ latest project, Fancy That, which was nominated for the Mercury Prize despite being only 20 minutes long. “We don’t want to bend, we don’t want to bow down to any sort of preconceptions,” Galbraith states. All of the songs run a natural course. Their sound is one that persists.
The band collaborated over many months, knitting ideas together, and then apart, to scrutinise their very shape. Each song had to fit everybody. This tapestry of consideration and intent makes for a sinuous sound and has kept their fanbase loyal for so long. In week-sized chunks, the band threw it all together, let it breathe, and came back to dissect.
“You have to be patient with yourselves, and with the music.”
Ocean Alley
Amid their foolproof method, there is one notable difference on this album: They’ve switched producers. A bold choice, painting a group striving for newness. Galbraith shared, “We bumped into another Australian artist, a really well-known, highly respected music industry [figure], Bernard Fanning. He’s one of the greats in Australia. He’s in the band Powderfinger.”
Over a beer and a chat, bonding over their shared heritage, they were recommended Powerfinger’s producer, Nick DiDia, who has also worked with Bruce Springsteen and Rage Against The Machine. Sure enough, the pairing was a success, with DiDia taking the job on despite his usual refusal of new clients. The hard work resulted in a unique, gleaming emotional resonance drilled at the heart of the album.
Their new producer isn’t the only change for this album run. Their last release, 2022’s Low Altitude Living, had “a bit more of a moody feel to it,” Galbraith ruminates. “It was a bit more sombre, a bit more drag.” That lacklustre atmosphere has all but pervaded the cultural moment in the wake of a disease that forced us into isolation. Looking ahead at their next work, there was only one choice Ocean Alley could make.
“We made a real conscious choice to really lift it up on the next album,” Galbraith smiles. “We need some shit that people can dance to remind people that music is about fun.”
It might not be addressed specifically in their music, but Ocean Alley are offering a critique on the new era of post-pandemic existence by steering our minds away from the malaise choking the global West. Galbraith reveals, “What we’d like to give to people with this album is an escape. That’s what I think art is, and I won’t say all art, but a lot of it is about that. A lot of it’s about taking yourself out of where you are and what you’re feeling; going somewhere else, and getting lost in it.”
This doesn’t stop a niggling sense of doubt creeping in from time to time. “I feel like we could address more of the shit that’s happening in the world today. Sometimes you have to stay light in dark situations, and hope and trust that you know there are good things out there in the world. You gotta learn to love the place that you’re in.”
Still, they can only be true to their own experiences. “This album is like the culmination of everything that we’ve done to date, coming out through us,” Galbraith muses. We pause, the unyielding feeling of time leaving you behind settling between us. The band, on and off the road like a light switch in a kid’s room, simply have more experience of it all. The horizon doesn’t look like a line, but like a point of continual return.
The ride may be fun, but at some point, the road must lead somewhere. For Ocean Alley, it’s a huge headline gig this September at London’s iconic Alexandra Palace–their biggest ever headline show, in fact. Galbraith beams, admitting that the band are “Ecstatic for that. We cannot wait to get on that stage. We feel so privileged. I’m going to walk through those walls and be like a kid in a candy shop. It’s gonna be trouble. Trouble will ensue after the gig.”
There’s a twinkle in his eye, and I know it’s all in jest. The album is a success. The hard work has paid off. It’s smooth sailing for Ocean Alley from here on out.
