Elijah Ocean Shares the Breezy "Down This Road"

Been of fan of Elijah's for quite some time. Happy to see his music reaching more ears.

Los Angeles-based artist Elijah Ocean is a songwriter’s songwriter. Channeling the ghosts of Laurel Canyon as well as the Hudson Valley, his sensibilities for folklore and his ear for a hook are on full display with his latest single, “Down This Road.” Ocean penned the first verse on his couch after moving to Los Angeles in 2014, and it stopped there for a while. After multiple revisions and mental blocks over the next three years, the song was finished in November 2017 in a Las Vegas hotel room, where longtime friend and keyboardist Zach Jones helped bring it to life. 

The breezy, accessible track, which instantly recalls Tom Petty, features the jangly interplay of guitars and organ alongside Ocean's warm as the California sunshine vocals.

"We’ve been here so many nights 
Side by side through the same old fights 
Round and round while the record plays 
Looking back on better days 

And here we go again 
It’s like this road won’t ever end 
It circles back to you my friend 
And here we go again"

Ocean was born in a small woodland house in the Hudson Valley, raised in rural Maine, and enlightened by time spent in New York City. He’s landed in Los Angeles for now, where the Sunset Strip is a wasteland, Silverlake has peaked, and the spirit of Laurel Canyon echoes through the hills of Highland Park. The end of the world is a damn inspirational place to be. 

Every year, Elijah Ocean crosses the country singing his songs and making memories. Picture this: It’s 2018 in the southwestern corner of America. There’s snow in the distant mountains and the slow desert sunset creeps through the windshield of a Mercury blazing down I-40 West. With four albums under his belt and a fifth in the chamber, Ocean is hitting his stride.