Ocean's 10
"Come on, while you still can"
You don't need to be too much of a connoisseur of the album form to recognise that the optimum LP - grindcore perhaps aside - should consist of around ten tracks, averaging 2 1/2 minutes each. And that's exactly what DC's Julie Ocean have done with "Long Gone and Nearly There", a power-pop spectacular on Transit of Venus. Agile, nimble numbers like "10 Lonely Words" and "At The Appointed Hour" (which we mentioned initially here) are as fresh as the best moments of Terry Banks' former band the Saturday People, while others, such as "#1 Song" are slightly more muscular, yet still manage to spill out hooks as they pile merrily along. And it closes with the high-bpm rush of sub-2 minute closer "Looking At Me / Looking At You", which sums the whole album up - no six-minute outros, no extraneous noodling, no self-indulgence, no attempt to hide the swarms of melodies and harmonies. Just grand.
"Come on, while you still can"
You don't need to be too much of a connoisseur of the album form to recognise that the optimum LP - grindcore perhaps aside - should consist of around ten tracks, averaging 2 1/2 minutes each. And that's exactly what DC's Julie Ocean have done with "Long Gone and Nearly There", a power-pop spectacular on Transit of Venus. Agile, nimble numbers like "10 Lonely Words" and "At The Appointed Hour" (which we mentioned initially here) are as fresh as the best moments of Terry Banks' former band the Saturday People, while others, such as "#1 Song" are slightly more muscular, yet still manage to spill out hooks as they pile merrily along. And it closes with the high-bpm rush of sub-2 minute closer "Looking At Me / Looking At You", which sums the whole album up - no six-minute outros, no extraneous noodling, no self-indulgence, no attempt to hide the swarms of melodies and harmonies. Just grand.
