Brooklyn's Oceanator Is Very Busy

Even though “A Crack In The World”, a single from Brooklyn-based Elise Okusami’s full-length debut as Oceanator, was written before the pandemic, its lyrics feel startlingly prescient today: “We’re all hanging on, trying not to fall through the void,” she sings. “But sometimes there’s only so much you can do.” In a season that seems destined to turn into a year marked by feelings of overwhelm and ineffectiveness, Okusami is resolutely doing things —releasing music as Oceanator; continuing to build her record label, Plastic Miracles; and staying plugged in to the things that give her purpose and bring her joy. 

Okusami, who formerly drummed in Vagabon, has been making music as Oceanator since 2017, and on August 28 she will release Things I Never Said, the project’s first full-length album. We talked with her about her time in quarantine, promoting her album without the help of live shows, and her favorite hometown music venue.

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me! I know that sometimes as millennials we’re like, “Oh god, I have to talk to a person on the phone?”

Yeah, I’ve been really liking [interviews] because of quarantine recently, where we’ll go full days without talking to anybody. I used to go to the pharmacy or whatever and the cashier would try to talk, and I’d just be really quiet, and now I’m like “Yes! Let’s have a whole conversation!” 

I know! Sometimes I’ll go through an entire day and send emails and texts, but I won’t actually use my voice. It’s very bizarre. 

Yeah, I was doing a livestream and I was like “Why is my voice so tired?” And I was like, “Oh, I haven’t used it.” 

What have you been up to in quarantine? Are you still in New York?

Actually, I just got back yesterday. I finally left for about two weeks; got tested, went down to see my family and help my dad and brother with some stuff around the house, just be out of New York for a sec. 

But yeah, I’m back up here, I’ve been up here for almost all of it. Hangin’ out in my apartment for the most part, going for walks. 

Where’s your family located?

They’re in Maryland. Right outside D.C.

Oh, cool! That’s funny, I’m actually in D.C. 

Cool, I love D.C. I grew up going to high school there, too. I used to play a lot of shows in high school at places that don’t exist anymore. 

That’s a bummer. Did you ever play at Black Cat?

Yeah, when I was in high school still we played at Black Cat Backstage, remember when they had that? And then I played the upstairs twice now, which was a dream come true. It’s my favorite venue of all time. 

You have a new album coming out in August, which is really exciting. How does it feel to be releasing new music right now? 

It feels weird, but I’m mostly just very excited. There were a bunch of hurdles in [this record] coming out and it’s finally happening. It feels like a huge relief, and I’m just so excited for people to get to hear it and to have my first LP and my first thing on vinyl, which is cool. I was super excited when I heard the test presses, and I got to listen to one of the test presses with my dad. So we put it on his 30-year-old record player and listened to it together. It feels weird not to have a tour coming up after [the release[, which was obviously originally the plan. But so many other cool things are happening and I’m doing a bunch of livestreams, and the singles people have been liking, which helps. It’s a little serotonin boost during quarantine. [laughs] 

How long have you been working on this record? 

The recording was finished in the fall of 2018. It’s pretty normal for a year or whatever with records, but then there was some other life stuff that got in the way. Mixing and mastering took longer than expected, and I was supposed to put it out on another label [Tiny Engines]. That label is no longer putting it out, so it was originally set to come out last March. It’s coming out on my label. It’s happening. It’s been a while. 

I also wanted to ask you about that. Was that label something that came up out of necessity of releasing this album, or was it something else that you also had in the works?

It was something else I also had in the works. I’d been planning for a while to do a label, and I had the name for a while and I staked out the Twitter and Instagram [handles]. Originally the plan was to put out other people’s stuff and to be a cassette label only, and to be a small project that I could do because I like doing it. And also because it’s kind of a passion project of other people’s music that I really love, and I want to help other people.

So that was happening anyway, and we were still shopping this record around to places, and then it was SXSW, so people were busy, and then this pandemic. So it was like, “Okay, this is probably not going to happen, let’s do a self-release.” And I was like, “Well, I might as well put it on my label, because it would be silly to have a label but then self-release it on a different label.” So that’s why it’s on there. Also because of the pandemic the label has expanded [beyond] cassettes, so we’re doing vinyl for this, and then we did a photo zine that we’re going to do quarterly. Just kind of looking to put out whatever I’m excited about, at this point, and whatever we can do financially, because that’s also changed.

That’s really exciting. 

Yeah, and it’s given me something to focus on in quarantine days. So I have a set time where it’s like, “Okay, it’s a work day, I’m going to sit at my desk and do some work,” even though I can’t go anywhere. 

How are you planning on promoting the album, since touring is off the table? 

We’re doing a record release stream via Baby’s All Right. The plan for that is to do a full-band thing. We’re trying to all get tested and go down to Maryland to my brother’s studio, but with testing results being kind of slow we’re not sure if that’s going to be a safe thing to do, so we’re playing it by ear still. But ideally, it’s going to be the full band and we’re going to play the full record, and have it be a special thing. That’s the record release dream, and I’m doing a Zoom listening party for anyone who’s pre-ordered the record on August 26th. 

I’m trying to do something a little different for all the streams, so it’s fun to watch all of them. And then we’re doing a little in-person record fair for Plastic Miracles and another little local label, and my friend Jonathan who is selling handmade stuff—masks and bags that he sews. That is going to be at a local bar in the backyard, and masks are required. We’re going to have Plastic Miracles stuff that’s out, hopefully we’ll have copies of the record early for people who come to that. 

So you’re busy! You have a lot coming up. 

[laughs] Yeah, there’s a lot. I just posted something to my Instagram, “August is Coming,” a poster with all the livestreams and events around the record that are announced so far. Trying to make it big and fancy without being able to leave the house still. 

It sounds like you’ve been playing music for most of your life at this point. You drummed for multiple bands in New York before starting your own solo project. What was the transition to getting out from behind the drum set like for you?

It didn’t feel like much of a transition, I guess. The reason I had played drums in so many bands is because everyone always needs a drummer. I had been doing some solo acoustic stuff for a while, and in high school me and my brother and a friend had a band, and I was the guitarist. So it was something—it was just another thing that I’ve always done. So it didn’t really feel like much of a transition, and I was doing some Oceanator-related stuff on my own, not really publicly.

I love playing the drums too, and I think that they will kind of inform each other in terms of performance and songwriting. The more I play drums, the more I can think about, when I’m writing, how the drum part would fit in, or what could go where. I think it also helps that I’m playing other people’s music. I think playing in a lot of different people’s bands, and playing different instruments, is what helped me get better.

One of the recent singles from the new album, “I Would Find You”, has a really fun vibe, and to me it kind of feels like a dance track for the end of the world. Can you tell me what inspired it? 

It’s one of the older songs on the record. I wrote it several years ago, and I was definitely influenced by Future Islands. I was listening to a lot of them around the time I wrote it. The specific friends I was thinking about when I wrote it were also really into that style of music, which is kind of why it’s more in that vein. The thing that came first was the keyboard, the lead line I guess you could call it. And then I had the bass next, and I was just going for that really steady bass that’s also playing its own little melody, and not playing just the bass notes. It’s kind of the thing driving the song, and the guitar was kind of an afterthought for that one. Future Islands, Twin Shadow -- those were the musical influences on that one. 

On your self-titled EP that came out in 2017, I noticed some 60’s-style pop influences. Where do those come from?

I guess just growing up. That EP is kind of a collection of stuff that was written -- the first track was written in, like, 2010, and the second track was written a month before I finalized the record. So that EP is kind of a conglomeration of a lot of stuff. We listened to a lot of 60’s soul and 60’s rock -- that’s when my parents were in high school, you know? I think a lot of times, the stuff you listen to in high school tends to be stuff you listen to for your whole life, and you go back to it a lot. Recently I’ve been going back to a lot of 90’s alternative rock radio stuff that’s been really comforting during the pandemic. 

It really has. I’ve been going back to a lot of stuff that I loved as a teenager, as well. It is just so comforting and familiar. 

Yeah, it just puts you in this nice [mood]? So that’s partly why, I’ve been listening to a ton of that stuff, it was always on in the car or wherever. And I like it, all that stuff, I think there’s a lot of great songwriting and perfect songs. So a lot of that kind of snuck its way in. 

What do you have coming up after the album release stuff?

There’s a bunch of stuff Plastic Miracles-wise that I’ll be doing, we’re finalizing a bunch of fall releases for other bands. It’s all stuff that I’m super excited about, obviously. I think a lot of the Oceanator stuff depends on what touring and shows are going to look like. I assume they’re not coming back for a very long time. Kind of playing that by ear. 

There’s so much ambiguity around all of it right now and it really sucks. 

That’s one of the hardest parts, I think. I’m very much a person who always needs to know what’s happening, and it’s been very weird not being able to plan even a month in advance, really.