"Okusami delivers her best outing yet on the indomitable Everything is Love and Death." - Under The Radar

"Oceanator’s emotional high water marks remain unbeaten … Everything Is Love and Death still takes the crown as Okusami’s most thoroughly satisfying release, and the one that cements her reliability; she’s reckoned with the end of the world and come back stronger for it." - FLOOD

There is a fundamental principle to all things, building blocks and equations to rely on that shape the world. Elise Okusami, the creative vision behind Oceanator, has theories on her own trusted framework: “In the literal sense, all my songs are about apocalypse and love.” 

This idea became the title of her new record: Everything is Love and Death - out now. Working for the first time with Grammy nominated producer Will Yip (Turnstile, The Wonder Years, Bartees Strange), she was given an opportunity to spend a full month in the studio, longer than on previous outings, in order to take time in build out the songs she had written around these core tenants. These are collections rife with songs sung to these two ideas; apocalyptic terror and desperate love holding strong in the face of unimaginable hardship. “I think that most of the events in your life that are important can be put into either or both of those categories,” Elise says, “with Things I Never Said and then Nothing's Ever Fine, Everything is Love and Death feels like a summation of those ideas.”

These themes announce themselves here with bombast and static fury, a bigger and louder sound than Oceanator has delivered in times past. A big, loud rock band is what has grown in the soil of the record, grown from trusted vision and nurtured by Elise and Yip’s shared understanding of a collective vision. Elise's polymathic mastery of instruments finds her playing guitar, bass, synths and drums, alongside her brother and frequent collaborator Mike Okusami on bass and piano and paired with the dynamic rhythms of Yip on drums and other percussion. All of these components gorgeously elaborated on by additional instrumentation from Megan Siebe, Andrew Whitehurst, Eric Sherman and David Haik. With the time afforded at Will Yip’s Studio 4 Recording space, demos became climatic singles, ringing big and loud and clear, instant classics that feel like beloved reminiscences.

Purchase your copy now on Transparent Teal vinyl + watch the official music video for “Happy New Year” directed by Bob Sweeney.

Get tickets to Oceanator's official record release shows before she hits the road supporting Pile later this fall - all shows on sale now. 

"This song was written almost all in one go in a voice memo. I had the chords and the piano riff, and the lyrics were more or less done on the first go through as well. I made two versions of this song - this one I called the pop rock version. I played the guitar, main piano lead, and drums and my brother Mike played the bass and some backing piano. I think of ‘Baby Britain' by Elliott Smith with this one."  - Elise Okusami (Oceanator)