San Francisco-based singer/songwriter Bray and his recording/touring band The Dens have long since acknowledged that music’s future lies largely with live performance. To this end, they have toured ten countries, including five European tours, and push an idiosyncratic synth/alt-pop sound. Bray’s writing is artsy without ever sounding pretentious and the growing placement of his songs in eleven national television programs and counting testifies to its accessibility. Their latest single “Oceanography” is the latest individualistic single from Bray’s pen illustrating how his collaboration with The Dens continues to bear ample fruit.
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The single boasts an appreciable poetic flair without Bray ever weighing down the lines with unnecessary verbiage. His clipped, impressionistic style compliments the synth trappings quite well and the impassioned subject matter fits his voice. Bray has a marvelously emotive vocal instrument capable of evoking immense feelings without ever slipping into bathos. He’s fully invested in the performance and makes a clear effort to tailor his voice to the song’s needs rather than imposing his will over the track.
Andy Smooth’s added treatments and synth lines pair well with the track. Nervo’s presence on guitar plays a pivotal role, as well, in further fleshing out the performance. Bray and The Dens share a like-minded sonic vision for “Oceanography” that’s obvious from the outset and you’ll be hard-pressed to hear any holes in the song’s arrangement. The running time of a little under four and a half minutes strikes an ideal balance between brevity and providing the musicians with ample room to develop the piece.
It succeeds on both scores. There’s never any feeling of Bray and The Dens overextending themselves, overstaying their welcome doesn’t fall inside their wheelhouse, but “Oceanography” likewise delivers more during its four minutes and nineteen seconds than many other songs of similar duration. The production strengths are apparent. It has a warm and inviting sound that envelops listeners without ever overwhelming them. The layered approach they adopt likewise invites repeated listens. You can’t appreciate this in full based on a single pass.
BANDCAMP: https://bray.bandcamp.com/track/oceanography-single
The tempo change that it undergoes after the first quarter half of the song is crucial to its ultimate success. Bray and The Dens generate tremendous energy on the back of that decision that hits its ultimate payoff with each chorus. It is not difficult to hear a strong pop influence underpinning the synthesized textures of this song, but it’s much more high-flown and durable than your typical disposable pop attack. Bray and The Dens are aiming for a substantive musical statement, instead, and nail their target with deceptive ease.
They have five albums to their credit and an extensive touring history that’s certain to expand thanks to singles such as this. Bray and The Dens’ new song “Oceanography” is a love song in the truest sense – it conveys a plethora of emotion, and the sheer joy of creation underpins every second of the performance. All but the hardest of hearts and hearing will fail to recognize what they’ve accomplished with this new single.
Garth Thomas