Things I Never Said

The debut full-length effort from Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Elise Okusami, who operates under the moniker Oceanator, Things I Never Said is a delightfully understated grunge-pop paean to the disillusionment of early adulthood. Okusami is a nimble pop architect who knows how to bait a hook, and her songs, which marry the riot grrrl ethos of Sleater-Kinney with the neatly wrapped emo-pop earworms of Jimmy Eat World, frequently take abrupt instrumental detours that lead the listener into new sonic headwaters. Punchy and self-assured, the nine-track set commences with the slow-burning Goodbye, Goodnight, which morphs effortlessly into the weary power-pop gem A Crack in the World, which evokes the breezy despondency of Santigolds Lights Out -- Okusamis characters often inhabit a world where time is running out and the notion of consequences is murky. Her guitar work is superb throughout, with bridges yielding inventive melodic turns and off-kilter sustained notes that owe a tip of the hat to the Pixies Joey Santiago. Oceanators fuzzed-out indie rock is versatile enough to allow for the occasional foray into motorik synth pop (I Would Find You), but for the most part, Things I Never Said operates within the D.I.Y. grunge-pop parameters of contemporaries like Camp Cope and Petal, and rewards repeated spins. ~ James Christopher Monger