Oceanography’s second full-length, Thirteen Songs About Driving Nowhere in Alphabetical Order, is a postcard from a place of solitude, uncertainty, and grief.
Written as singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Brian Kelly helped care for his sister, who passed away in November of 2020 after a long battle with cancer, the album finds the musician mostly alone with his thoughts in cars, driving between Oakland, his childhood home in the East Bay suburbs, and seemingly endless doctors’ appointments. With a deceptively powerful voice and poignant melodies, he paints cinematic landscapes from black asphalt, red taillights, and the fickle, foggy grey of Northern California skies.
“On “Painted Powder Blue,” Peter Labberton’s drums kick off a solo drive at a determined clip, as Brian Kelly tries to focus on the freeway instead of a relationship’s end: “Coyote blood stains the 101, with my eyes on the road and my headlights on / swear I’m gonna stay ahead as long as I can, but every new day’s a day closer to gone.”
While there’s a bittersweet quality to many of the songs, Kelly’s pop sensibility translates to catchy hooks and an immediate familiarity, recalling at times The Cars, Pixies, The War on Drugs, and Fleetwood Mac, with a distinct thread of Americana woven throughout. The record manages to feel both lush and spacious, heartbreaking and uplifting — it’s no surprise that Kelly spent time with Destroyer and Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska while making it. Each track is self-contained, building keys, guitars, bass, and drums into an atmospheric soundtrack for the unknown road ahead.
Kelly turns a literary eye for detail on both the Pacific coastline and his own unpredictable edges, arriving at moments of catharsis and beauty amid the bleak and mundane. “Homes line the canyon like molars in your jaw, you grind ‘em together ‘til the feeling is gone,” Kelly sings over plaintive piano on opener “Monterey,” a song about changing family dynamics amid illness and grief. “It’s not your fault, it’s not your fault,” he insists before landing with gentle resignation: “We are prone to accidents close to home.”
Kelly, who grew up playing guitar in rock bands, began honing his skills as a singer-songwriter after moving from California to New York in 2001. In 2009, when his oldest sister Cori was diagnosed with cancer, Kelly moved back west to help. Alone in his childhood bedroom, he began recording without overthinking the end result.
In the decade since, Kelly has worked with a slew of collaborators, recorded at renowned studios, and garnered critical acclaim. Recorded mostly live, Thirteen Songs represents the culmination of Kelly’s career thus far, with a full, organic sound courtesy of a band of veteran players, including Scott Barwick (Jonathan Richman), Peter Labberton (Parquet Courts, St. Vincent), Bevan Herbekian (Teenager, Colors), and Kirt Lind (Donald Beaman). But the album retains Kelly’s singular vision and an intimate, introspective feel.
“These songs are about navigating the chaos and uncertainty that life can throw at you,” says Kelly of themes that will likely resonate with others after the events of the past year. (This is also reflected in the record’s cover, designed by Kelly, featuring one continuous line winding in all directions.) “How we deal with loss defines who we are, and that’s something I learned from my sister — she lost so much, and her ability to remain positive to the very end was remarkable. Maybe this record can, in some small way, help others find comfort in that part of life.”
Thirteen Songs About Driving Nowhere in Alphabetical Order will be available on all streaming platforms September 10, 2021 and a national tour is planned for Spring 2022.”
Follow Oceanography – Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | YouTube
