I've been following Oceansize from the time of 'Efflouresce,' and while they've had a couple of dips, in particular 'Everyone Into Position' (which was by no means a bad album, it just had an awful lot to live up to in comparison to its predecessor and the blinding 'Music for Nurses' EP) they've never failed to produce interesting and varied releases, and have never stopped pushing their range in new and different directions. 'Expect the unexpected' may be a cliche, but it's a phrase entirely applicable to this band - unless, of course, you count expecting epic and wide-ranging awesomeness as something predictable.
It's their refusal to plough the same furrow or to produce overtly commercial material that makes them such a fascinating proposition, and the dark yet optimistically-titled 'Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up' serves up another exciting instalment in their somewhat eccentric and extremly prog-infused catalogue. Launching straight in with the super-heavyweight, Melvins-like 'Part Cardiac,' it's immediately apparent that this is going to be a beast of an album, and it doesn't disappoint.
Many of the tracks on 'Self Preserved' are shorter than the majority of their previous output, but don't mistake that for a sign that Oceansize have gone commercial, as they've delivered an album packed with the simmering tension and beautiful drifting guitarscapes that have gained them a respectable - and deserved - fan-base. Besides, 'Oscar Acceptance Speech' has everything you might expect from an Oceansize track, its textured instrumentation and Vennart's vulnerable vocal delivery conveying an emotional depth and fragility, shifting unexpectedly from one lace to another, effortlessly traversing between tempos and dynamics, and stretching out toward the nine-minute mark. Hot in its heels is 'Ransoms,' which has more than a touch of 'Dark Side of the Moon' Floyd about it. I'm not complaining, and lyrically, its bleakness ('I would've never known / 'cause no-one would tell me / that when they found her body / that no offer or ransom / could bring her back to me') contrasts with the gentle, almost shoegaze guitar backdrop.
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There might not be quite the explosions of noise that punctuated 'Efflouresce' to be found across 'Self Preserved,' but that doesn't mean that this is by any means a tame album. If anything, it's their darkest release to date: the noise is simply harnessed and kept simmering under to create a tension that bubbles beneath the surface, dangerous currents that could drag you under at any minute. The last track (or penultimate track if you get the limited edition with bonus track) 'Superimposter' has a hint of Faith No More / Mr Bungle about it, a slightly schizo epic that twitches and twists during the course of its five and a half minute running time.
'Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up' isn't exactly bursting at the seams with a glut of obvious singles choices, but is all the better for it. This is an album, in the traditional sense, and demands to be heard as such, from beginning to end, as a journey through a succession of peaks and troughs and changing moods.
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