Album Review: Elijah Ocean (Self-Titled)

-Tara

Los Angeles via New York and Maine, singer-songwriter Elijah Ocean’s self-titled fourth release is a sun-drenched slice of Laurel Canyon Country that will feel good in your ears and warm your musical soul. The ten-track self-penned collection begins with the spirited, encouraging “Bad Dreams” before heading into songs of lost love and disappointment. The lovely harmonies and airy feel of “Chain Of Gold” support a wistful nostalgia that flows into the waltz, “Malibu Moon,” and the sweeping “Desert Rain.” Ocean takes the tempo up a notch with the bouncy road tune “Highway” before circling back to the “Barricade,” a tune of struggling romance that emits a sad warmth and “Still Where You Left Me” a lonely a mid-tempo two-stepper. The album is rounded out with the realistic, yet hopeful “Time Passes Slow” and the shuffling harmonica and keys-laden closer “Days Are Long,” making it easy to hit repeat for another go-round.

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