Rising Los Angeles atmospheric alternative rock quartet, The Only Ocean is excited to release their latest single “Watch It Fall” today via Side Hustle Records, alongside its accompanying aesthetically lovely music video, directed by Joshua Drew HERE.
Recorded with Jonathan DeBaun (The Mars Volta, Antemasque, Le Butcherettes), “Watch It Fall” is an upbeat song with lyrics of anything but. The lyrics revolve around the main idea of the struggles we as humans have inside our own head. Not understanding what or who we are and not wanting to be yourself. It’s the feeling of being afraid to be in your shoes and wanting to become someone else to fit in. 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 whilst doing so.
“Watch It Fall” was originally intended to be a distorted disco rock song inspired by the Michael Jackson hit, “Off The Wall.” “At the time I was obsessed with that track and I kept thinking what that would sound like through a fuzz pedal with the volume fully cranked at 12,” shares Wesley Hill, vocalist and guitar of The Only Ocean. Ultimately, the distorted disco rock idea never worked out however, the placeholder title was still “Ting Ting” based entirely off the indie-dance band, The Ting Tings. After scrapping the idea, “Watch It Fall” took cues from the baggy, Madchester genres and once the direction changed, everything changed completely. “Watch It Fall’’ is now a fully bass driven song fueling everything together of rhythmic beats, catchy guitar lines and vocal melodies, how can you not dance along with it.
PHOTO CREDIT: SABRINA GUITERREZ
ABOUT THE ONLY OCEAN:
With a steady stream of buzz-worthy singles, EP’s that have received rave reviews, and a new, re-energized line-up, the L.A alternative-rock band The Only Ocean is making waves in L.A’s music scene. Formed in Lompoc, CA, during bandleader Wesley Hill’s high school days, the band has evolved from an auspicious bedroom solo-project to a flourishing four-piece that’s carved out its own unique place within the sea of playlists and festival stages in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, eventually settling further south in Los Angeles, where all four members are from originally and their sound has continued to evolve and deepen with the addition of new members guitarist Tamara Simons, drummer Jonathan Palmquist, and bassist Jordan Kaufman. Bandleader Wesley Hill’s love of the loud, wall-of-sound guitars of shoegaze favorites My Bloody Valentine and Ride, as well as the infectious pop rhythms of the Spice Girls has found a kindred spirit in Jonathan DeBaun (The Mars Volta, Omar Rodríguez-López, Antemasque, Mastodon, and Rituals Of Mine, Le Butcherettes) who has engineered, produced, and mixed all of their music to date. From 2015’s self-titled debut, it’s vulnerable, mature follow-up, TOO, singles such as 2017’s “Good Morning” 2018’s “Replaceable”, which found a stronger emphasis on rhythm and experiments with the production, opting for a style uncommon to alternative rock music, to last year’s “Fake Sunflowers”, their larger-than-life Still You Won’t EP and their newest single “Watch It Fall,” this fruitful creative partnership between The Only Ocean and DeBaun as a band AND producer no signs of slowing down.
All the while The Only Ocean has went from Hill’s brainchild as a four-piece hometown favorite, as a trio, and a solo-venture has led them to return back to a tight energetic touring quartet with releases that are consistent not only in quality, but in praise, earning features in Grimy Goods, Impose Magazine, Northern Transmissions, Alternative Press for 2018’s “Replaceable”, a song whose lyrics were inspired by Hill’s own struggles with body dysmorphia and anorexia and was featured as part of their “10 New Songs You Need to Hear this Week”, to last year’s single “Still You Won’t” being heard in regular rotation on KROQ’s “Locals Only with Kat Corbett”, where it was voted #1 for three weeks and remained within the top 5 for seven weeks straight. The band has continued to record and tour at its own steady pace, supporting acts such as Cherry Glazerr, Dante Elephante, and Sure Sure and recently performed as a featured artist as part of Buzzbands.LA’s “Artists to Watch 2020” showcase earlier this January, in what has shaped up to be another promising start to another year together as a band..
ABOUT SIDE HUSTLE RECORDS:
Founded in 2019, Side Hustle Records is a digital label comprised of the music industry veterans at Big Hassle Media. Not tied to any one genre or style, but rather to musical artistry in all its forms, everyone at Side Hustle has set their sights on advancing artists’ careers in any way they can. Side Hustle Records is distributed exclusively by The Orchard. Look out for more exciting releases from Side Hustle in the coming months.
