Ocean Alley

“Hold your breath, it’s about to get a little wavy…”

Austin Smith / USD Radio

Can someone please get me some more of that slide guitar, those atmospheric keys, groovy bass? And that audible chocolate that is Baden Donegal’s voice? Ocean Alley, a group of Aussie psych-reggae-cruise rockers based in Sydney,  absolutely killed it at Music Box when they played on Oct. 10th. To be honest, I still don’t think I’m over it. From a strong start to an even stronger finish, I can tell you, boy do these lads know how to move a crowd. By the time the concert was over, the whole audience was an emotional wreck. If you weren’t in tears, you were dancing.

Ocean Alley released their new album Low Altitude Living on Friday, October 14th, sporting a more pneumatic sound than previous records. The album let’s say, for my lack of professional vernacular, is killer. This record is light, positive, and quite the juxtaposition to their last album, Lonely Diamond. Lonely Diamond I’d say is one of my favorite albums. While Low Altitude Living shares the melodious DNA of their predecessor, Lonely Diamond is more pensive and somber. It is a massive understatement to say this, maybe even practically insulting, but these Aussies are phenomenally talented. Lonely Diamond was not only recorded the traditional way, but they also released a version of it live in the studio. It might be a combination of their unflinching groove, or maybe it’s the sound engineer’s sheer talent (and my personal bias), but wow. Just wow. Between years of listening to these guys, this past concert, and their recent release, it is astounding they are slept on in America. In Australia their following is a bit larger, having won Aussie public radio station Triple J’s Hot 100 in 2018 with their hit song “Confidence.” Now forever immortalized in Australia’s music pantheon with the likes of Powderfinger and Australian Crawl, I am beyond ecstatic to see what they do next.

Their sound is just poppy enough to catch your ear off the bat, just reggae-y enough to find you in a chill dissociative groove, and just rocky enough to keep you listening, singing, and enjoying their truly one of a kind sound. Coming out of a burgeoning Aussie music scene, Ocean Alley somehow finds themselves as a standout, and thank god they did. It is an amalgamation of Floyd-esque guitar licks, funk basslines, and whatever lead singer Baden Donegal has going on with his voice, which is the tie that binds this eclectic, yet somehow extremely cohesive, sound together.

Suggested tracks:

“Tombstone”, Lonely Diamond Live in Studio

“Knees”, Chiaroscuro

“Touch Back Down”, Low Altitude Living