CD Review: Ocean Alley - Lonely Diamond

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"Despite coming out in the dead of winter, Ocean Alley have brewed up the perfect summer soundtrack in LP3."

(Image credit: supplied by label)

OCEAN ALLEY
Lonely Diamond
INDEPENDENT

Despite coming out in the dead of winter, Ocean Alley have brewed up the perfect summer soundtrack in LP3. Fuzzy, low-fi quips of ‘70s psychedelica gel with blindingly bright indie rock hooks, the whistling keys and punchy drums a radiant backdrop for Angus Goodwin’s sharp and soaring leadwork to shine. 

His ripping solo on “Way Down” is an early highlight, but rest assured there’s plenty of kaleidoscopic ebbing and flowing across this 45-minute mind-melter to keep fans old and new alike gripping their armrests. 

At times jammy and others jazzy – sometimes cool and sometimes chaotic – Lonely Diamond is not just the Sydney sextet’s most sonically diverse and interesting set of tunes to date, but also undoubtedly their best. 

Ellie Robinson
Ellie Robinson
Editor-at-Large, Australian Guitar Magazine

Ellie Robinson is an Australian writer, editor and dog enthusiast with a keen ear for pop-rock and a keen tongue for actual Pop Rocks. Her bylines include music rag staples like NME, BLUNT, Mixdown and, of course, Australian Guitar (where she also serves as Editor-at-Large), but also less expected fare like TV Soap and Snowboarding Australia. Her go-to guitar is a Fender Player Tele, which, controversially, she only picked up after she'd joined the team at Australian Guitar. Before then, Ellie was a keyboardist – thankfully, the AG crew helped her see the light…