The Ocean, Solarisseventy minutes from Berlin to Patagonia

The Ocean is one of those rare bands that pick a concept for every album and work it through with textbook seriousness. This time the source ain't geology, it's Tarkovsky's Solaris from 1972. According to Pelagic's press blurb, this is the band's 12th studio album. Wikipedia says tenth, so you do the counting (I got bored). It was recorded in Berlin at Hansa Studios and mixed by Jens Bogren. He's the guy who whipped Pelagial and both Phanerozoics into shape. There are two new vocalists in the lineup, Lane Shi and Enrico Tiberi. Among the guests, Thorsten Quaeschning from Tangerine Dream plays modular synth, and there's a trombone too (!). The opening and closing tracks are named after coordinates: the album sets off from Berlin and ends up in Patagonia. Sitting in between is the 17-minute "Simulacra". On the streaming services it's been chopped into three, dunno why.

The critics are split down the middle, with scores bouncing anywhere from 5/10 to 10/10. The ones who love it go for the album's sheer scope and the new vocal duo. The ones slagging it say 70 minutes sags and that the vocals and lyrics come up short. The fence-sitters wrote that the lineup hasn't settled yet and that the album feels lightweight next to the old stuff. On paper, I think both complaints are fair. When you've got three tracks over ten minutes and two new voices sitting their exam on top of that, the band has to earn every single minute.

The opening and closing tracks are named after coordinates: the album sets off from Berlin and ends up in Patagonia.

Why 72? Bogren's mix, the Hansa room and the guts of the concept keep the album from dropping below 70. Nobody pads a runtime like that to sell records, and I respect that attitude. It doesn't climb to 80 either, because the length complaint isn't coming from one grumpy writer, it's coming from several different places. And the new vocalists haven't won everybody over yet. Pelagic's LP+CD bundle, limited to 300 copies, is 50 euro, and the digital version starts at 7 euro on Bandcamp. Buy the digital first, then make up your mind...