OCEAN GROVE SHARE “SEX DOPE GOLD” VIDEO — WATCH
NEW ALBUM UP IN THE AIR FOREVER OUT APRIL 22
Fresh from the announcement that their visionary third album Up In the Air Forever is dropping in April, Ocean Grove are serving up another injection of high octane creative juice direct from the belly of the Oddworld™. Today, they have shared the video for “SEX DOPE GOLD,” which further exemplifies the inspired vision and creative intellect of the album and its makers. Watch it here.
“Contrary to the abundant messaging we unconsciously receive daily through pop culture, television, and advertising to embrace and satisfy our sensory urges, ‘SEX DOPE GOLD’ is the antithesis to this ‘norm,'” the band says.
Ocean Grove continue, “This song speaks of the trap we sometimes fall into in the material world: insatiable material consumption, addiction to sensory gratification, and the inflation of the false ego. Ultimately, these temporary and reactionary experiences are merely an illusory escape route from the uncomfortable and unknown. If the ending of Scarface tells us anything, it is that the pursuit for sex, money, and power may not turn out the way we’d hope and that it’s a vacuous pursuit. Let your ears be your eye and see your world’s truth on a platter.”
Releasing April 22 via UNFD, Up In the Air Forever is a 10-track, genre-bending epic musical journey. Featuring already-released cuts “CALI SUN” and “SILVER LINING’” — each of which have found a home on radio including triple j, BBC R1, and Kerrang!, and have amassed over half-a-million streams combined already — the album is an evolution of the trio’s early heavy sound. Throughout its course, Ocean Grove serve up a full menu of sounds and genres, ranging from Brit-rock to pop, grunge, and punk, ultimately confirming them as a creative force that can’t be tamed.
Thematically, Up In the Air Forever celebrates personal freedom, expression and creativity, and is characterized by strong anarchic sentiments and resentment for a system that squashes individualism and anti-“norm” ideas.
UP IN THE AIR FOREVER TRACK LISTING:
“FLAVA”
“SEX DOPE GOLD”
“CALI SUN“
“BUSTIN'”
“SILVER LINING“
“HMU” (Feat. Lil Aaron)
“BORED” (Feat. Dune Rats)
“NOISE”
“SILENCE”
“UP IN THE AIR FOREVER”
ALBUM ART BY BRENT ENGSTROM
ABOUT UP IN THE AIR FOREVER:
“The power is in The Shoe,” declares the manifesto for Ocean Grove‘s record Up In The Air Forever. “The Shoe,” affectionately branded the “Oddworld 3000,” is the key to unlocking the listener’s full potential. It represents a portal that transmits the wearer to the universe of the Oddworld and beyond, where rules like gravity don’t apply.
That shoe — of course referring to the colossal sneaker dominating the Up In the Air Forever cover art — is a wearable transportation — better said, a transformation device. Brought to life through the genius of comic artist Brent Engstrom (Garbage Pail Kids, Topps), the album cover illustrates the walls of real-world mediocrity that Ocean Grove are looking to shatter – and the shoe they plan to do it with! Slip it on and gravitate to the highest frequencies of the Oddworld and the realest you.
“With this album, Ocean Grove are empowering the listener to reach for the stars,” continues the mission statement penned by the OG collective. “It’s not that The Shoe promises them any new powers, but rather a change in perspective that removes the external callus and conditioning they’ve acquired over possible lifetimes, the veil of illusion over their eyes that keeps them subdued and contracted.”
Coined around their inception in Melbourne in the early 2010s, the Oddworld is the new reality in which all are welcome to enter and approach Ocean Grove, who reside at its fervent nucleus. As a gift to the trio’s “Junkies” (the already-citizens of the Oddworld) and for those uninitiated, Ocean Grove have lovingly created Up In the Air Forever and its tangible companion, The Oddworld 3000.
With its release, Ocean Grove are inviting all to strap on the sneaker and fasten themselves to the Oddworld movement. It’s an extended hand of hope and validation to anyone that feels like an outsider on this planet — a personal welcome from Dale, Twiggy, and Sam to step beyond the normal and into the freedom of the anti-normal.
OCEAN GROVE ARE:
Dale Tanner — Vocals
Twiggy Hunter — Bass/Vocals
Sam Bassal — Drums/Studio Guitars/Production
