“The cars break. Everything goes slow motion. There’s disaster and fire,” foretells Elise Okusami, describing her cinematic vision of the end of the world. Apocalypse is a subject she mined in acute detail and to critical acclaim on 2020’s Things I Never Said, her debut full-length as Oceanator. But in her most recent cataclysmic telling, she keeps the camera focused on the people who survive and need to keep on living. “It could either be hopeful or negative,” Okusami explains of the tale’s ambiguous ending. “You’re either walking off into a nice sunset or going off into a black hole. For me, it depends on the mood; it can be both ways.” 

These vividly imagined scenes comprise the sunrise-to-sunset arc of Oceanator's resplendent new record Nothing's Ever Fine, the already-shredding project’s heaviest collection yet. Oceanator's sophomore LP arrives April 8 and you can pre-order your Early Bird copy today on Navy-In-Seafoam vinyl (limited to 400). Watch the Chris Farren-directed video for debut single "Bad Brain Daze," featuring Jeff Rosenstock on saxophone – yes, it's a family affair. The track busts through the hazy pallor of unavoidable anxiety with stop-start guitar rhythms, telephonic synths and juxtapositionally cheerful melodies. The video.. well, just watch for yourself. 

On the album itself, in addition to performing guitars, synths, bass, keys, and vocals, Elise serves as co-producer. That role is shared with her brother and longtime bandmate Mike Okusami, as well as her friend Bartees Strange. Working at Falls Church, VA’s 38 North and at Mike’s space in Maryland, the trio eschewed traditional live tracking in favor of recording parts separately as overdubs. They focused on sonic exploration and worldbuilding, dialing in sounds and experimenting with a Wurlitzer, B3, Leslie, and mellotron, among other synths and boutique effects. 

With a lifetime of playing in and alongside so many bands of friends, it makes sense Oceanator would seek communal joy on this record, especially from musicians in the Brooklyn scene that has given the band its home and the DC scene from which she got her start. Lonely feelings can skew apocalyptic when compounded with mental health struggles and an ever-frightening planet, but Elise Okusami’s exuberant songwriting and brawny arrangements manage to form a complexly colored and auspiciously bright sunset on the horizon. On Nothing’s Ever Fine, the world might end. But it might not. And while we wait to find out, Oceanator delivers a revitalizing smack of sound and energy, helping us to remember that even if things don’t turn out fine, we can make our time here worth it.