“One thing Nothing’s Ever Fine does not do, despite the fatalism of its title, is give into despair. It’s a big, loud, scuzzy record. It has real heft. Okusami loves big finishes, finger-punishing solos, and anthemic choruses.” 
- Bandcamp Daily, Album of the Day

Oceanator's decisive sophomore album, Nothing's Ever Fine, arrives today with a bang. A limited number of exclusive Early Bird edition vinyl on Navy-In-Seafoam are available in the Polyvinyl Store. The band will perform tonight at the PV patio in Champaign, IL, but anyone can tune in via the Bandcamp livestream! Show begins at 6:00 PM CT. Oceanator's spring tour supporting labelmates Pedro The Lion kicks off Tuesday in Kansas City - tickets for all upcoming shows onsale now. 

Following previously released singles "Bad Brain Daze" & "Stuck," Oceanator dropped another official video this time for "The Last Summer" directed by Baby Pony Food who shared: "The Last Summer’s lyrics evoke aimless youthful nights in DC, aimless youthful nights that we lived alongside Elise, so we tried to channel those memories and that energy as much as possible. We thought of this video as a love letter to Washington, DC and tried to cram in as many of our favorite places in the city as possible." Watch below. 

In her most recent cataclysmic telling Elise Okusami keeps the camera focused on the people who survive and need to keep on living. These vividly imagined scenes comprise the sunrise-to-sunset arc of her resplendent new record Nothing’s Ever Fine, the already-shredding project’s heaviest collection yet. But like on previous Oceanator recordings, Elise's characteristic ease with bright hooks still shines, and the wide-ranging influences of ‘80s power pop, ‘90s melodic punk, Americana, film scores and Civil Rights-era vocal groups lend textured complexity to the collection. She uses these sounds to explore anxious nightmares, nostalgia for late night adventure, the fog of depression, climate catastrophe and cautious optimism for the future. It’s material ripe for an end-of-days flick, sure; but it’s also the reality of living with the noise in your own brain in America’s 2020s.

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 project its home and the DC scene from which Elise got her start. On Nothing’s Ever Fine, the world might end. But it might not. And while we wait to find out, Elise Okusami 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.