Ocean Alley Found Their ‘Cruisy’ Groove With Rock Producer Nick DiDia on ‘Love Balloon’

For Ocean Alley, they conscionable needed confidence to get things rolling.

The indie surf-rock outfit returns with Love Balloon, their 5th workplace medium which got aerial past Friday, Sept. 19 via Community Music.

For the archetypal time, the Australian six-piece worked with legendary stone shaper Nick DiDia, pursuing an instauration from erstwhile Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning.

“You tin archer however experienced helium is,” enthuses vocalist Baden Donegal, “because helium was conscionable truthful laid backmost and everything conscionable gets done and connected time. He conscionable knows what’s down the road, and we’re inactive learning each of that.”

After a couple beers and immoderate rounds of play with DiDia, the musicians conscionable “hung retired similar mates” and talked a small spot astir music. “It was conscionable the astir cruisy benignant of communal narration that we’ve had truthful far,”recounts bassist Nic Blom.

The effect is cruisy, too.

Spreading crossed 10 tracks, Love Balloon is a dreamy, chilled travel that should deed the people with the Australian band’s increasing fanbase.

Led by the singles “Tangerine,” “Left Of The Dealer” and the rubric track, the caller acceptable was recorded implicit 3 stints, crossed astir 3 months. Those last signaling sessions were “more similar a ‘plug-in and play’ benignant of approach,” remarks guitarist Angus Goodwin. “Like, precise overmuch an aged schoolhouse approach.”

Which checks out. Ocean Alley’s throwback dependable is similar an antidote to the unreserved of modern life.

The radical smashed done the barriers with 2018’s “Confidence”, which topped triple J’s Hottest 100 poll. Its genitor Chiaroscuro narrowly missed retired connected a apical 10 highest connected the ARIA Albums Chart, hitting No. 11. Follow-ups Lonely Diamond (from 2020) and Low Altitude Living (2022) some peaked astatine No. 3 connected the nationalist survey. “Confidence” is present six-times platinum certified successful Australia, and full streams crossed each the band’s songs transcend 1 billion.

With the breakthrough of “Confidence,” beingness successful the set got a “whole batch much serious,” says guitarist Mitch Galbraith. “There were a batch of changes we had to make, the amusement had to beryllium a batch much professional. There was a batch much pressure. We had to code backmost the beers earlier we went connected signifier and to marque definite that each enactment was correct. Get the cardinal right.”

They’ll deed those notes erstwhile they instrumentality to North America for a 2nd tally of header dates starting Oct. 2 astatine Empire Control Room & Garage successful Austin, TX. Earlier stops this twelvemonth person included fe...