Five Years On, Ocean Alley Look Back At Their 'In Purple' EP Ahead Of Its Vinyl Reissue

The tracks on In Purple feel like some of the more gritty and abrasive tracks that we have created. They represent a more ambiguous time both in our lives and in our songwriting, and listening back to this record there are so many moments where we’ve realised a certain part or sound that is so far from what we would consider doing now. In saying that, there are also many parts that we would be proud to have written during the creation of Lonely Diamond and the fact that we can see both those sides of that says something about the way that we have grown our sound since In Purple.

We haven’t played any tracks from this record live for a while now. I guess we just want to keep pushing ourselves to do something different and give everyone something new to consume. Twisted was definitely one that people loved to sing along to when we played it live and we still get asked to play Muddy Water. One day we will play it all again, but for now there’s so much new stuff to focus on.

Space Goat opens the record with a backstroke driven groove and a foreboding feel. It’s punchy and the twists and turns of the rhythm keep you guessing. I think that’s probably why we put this track first, for some kind of opening statement about what’s to come. The name is a bit of fun and doesn’t have anything to do with the themes of the track (similar to Hot Chicken on the new album), but we had fun with some goat-inspired artwork and borrowed a few goats for a video clip.

Those Daze has this long piano intro which is so different to the rest of the song - it’s interesting to listen back to a part that feels like it clashes so much. I guess that is what got us excited about writing then and now, trying to play with different ways of creating drama in our music. These songs feel theatrical and overt compared to some of the music we have made more recently. We recorded Those Daze with a friend Rohan Brown in some old workshop loft in Annandale, Sydney, and it was a rough and ready setup in a homemade studio space but we used that rough and raw environment to match those sounds and that feel with the song.

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Daydreaming continues with a spooky mood and is our dabble into dub. We were experimenting with styles borrowed from artists we were listening to at the time like Steel Pulse, Katchafire, Bob Marley and trying to incorporate a darker mood to our dub and reggae favourites.

Sleepwalking plays with a different structure to create tension, which builds up to highlight some screaming rock guitar. It was a pivot from Daydreaming, straying from a dub or reggae sound and forging another path, acting as a bit of a gateway track.

Twisted plays like a true ‘single’ on this record with its catchy horn melodies, bouncing hi-hats in the chorus and super hooky vocals throughout. We were proud that amongst the more jam-like tracks, we could create something that was more concise and deliberate. It’s a track that helped us learn so much about how to deliver your message and the sound you have in mind to the listener. The horns - played by our friends Jakob Keysell on trumpet and Nate Porter on saxophone - added a mature tone that we hadn’t explored before and sonically it’s a stand out part of this track.

Muddy Water begins with wailing slide guitar which sets a sombre mood from the start. We were proud of the space we created in this song. It has broad soundscapes and interwoven parts with a focus on space around each tone. We built the end of the song into reflective crescendo and had it fade out which is something that isn’t super common these days. It was a calming and respectful way to end the record and the start of our efforts to create more complete and thoughtful records.

The In Purple limited vinyl repress is on sale from 10am on Monday 31 August. Head here for more info.