Australia’s beloved psychedelic surf rock outfit Ocean Alley have announced their upcoming fourth album Low Altitude Living, to be released independently on October 14. The band is also about to embark on their West Coast U.S. tour — earlier this year, Ocean Alley sold out nearly every venue along their eight-show tour of the Midwest and East Coast, including Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, Chicago’s Lincoln Hall, Terminal West in Atlanta, and The Sinclair in Boston. The album announcement comes paired with their latest single “Home”, a profession of love for both people and place.

Opening the record with a feeling of warmth and familiarity, “Home” is soaked with bright tones and subtly adorned with twinkling keys. The song is a product of the band’s opportunity to slow down in 2020, with space to reconnect with themselves and the environment around them. Guitarist Mitch Galbraith explains, “We’ve felt more connected than ever to the people and places that are around us at home. Normally, we’d be spending most of our year away on tour, but we felt very lucky to spend the last two years with the people we love.”

While the six-piece could have rinsed & repeated the styles and sounds of their previous full-lengths – the ARIA Award-nominated Lonely Diamond (2020), their ARIA Gold-certified breakthrough Chiaroscuro (2018) and self-assured debut Lost Tropics (2016) – Low Altitude Living, produced by longtime collaborator Callum Howell, sees the band construct their broadest ranging sonic framework yet. As suggested by the diverse feels of previous singles “Touch Back Down” and “Deepest Darkness”, Ocean Alley cohesively honors the traditional features of their distinct sound while equally giving it a refreshing and exciting new edge. Mitch shares, “It’s no secret that we don’t want to repeat ourselves…there’s a constant sense of betterment, growth and exploration.”

Where in the past, Ocean Alley have cited the influence of ‘70s stalwarts such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, this new album sees the band explore their musicality through pure instinct. They experiment with sludgey ‘90s alt-rock on the reverb-laden “Changes”, they bring a side of bluesy slide guitar akin to the Commodores on cruisey ballad “Snake Eyes”, while the haunted and sensual “Parking Fines” would slot right into an Interpol record. Lach Galbraith (keys/vocals) shares, “Pushing each other to try new things, inside and outside of music, is really important for us to keep things fresh. Musically our songwriting has become more intricate as we explore new styles and techniques in recording.”

As frontman Baden Donegal explains, “Low altitude, being by the beach is where we all have the most peace. So naming the album Low Altitude Living made a lot of sense. The title of the album doesn’t necessarily represent any one song in particular, or tie them all together. But it does tie our band to the music. I feel like it’s more of a title that describes why we sound like Ocean Alley.”

Photo Courtesy: Kane Lehanneur