CD of The Week

The Wombats - Oh! The Ocean (AWAL)

UK indie rockers The Wombats are back with their sixth studio album, Oh! The Ocean, a 42-minute journey through celebrations and lamentations courtesy of frontman Matthew “Murph” Murphy’s lyrical prowess.

The album opens with “Sorry I Was Late, I Didn’t Want To Come,” a bass-centric dance tune that is an undeniable earworm. Murph’s falsetto helps stress the introverted feeling we’ve all felt when making and keeping plans, “Sorry I was late, I didn’t want to come. It’s not that I hate you, I just hate everyone.” You can’t help but dance while listening to Murph admit he’s the problem that creates more problems he won’t solve.

Oh! The Ocean sees Murph confront anxiety, depression, vices, and addiction. “Can’t Say No” boasts an infectious melody while we hear a list of objectively bad ideas - stealing a car and driving to Belize, vandalizing a hearse, stealing cash from your mom and signing her up for a Ponzi scheme that will make her “rich in cheap face cream.” This idea is also the crux of “My Head Is Not My Friend,” as we see him struggle with bad habits, wondering if his schemes and plans are a waste of time. He sings of being canceled, of doomsday scenarios, and giving it all away for one peaceful day.

One of the stand-out tracks on the album is “I Love America and She Hates Me,” as poignant a song about the state of the U.S. as can be written by a band originally from Liverpool. It’s got The Wombats’ signature indie dance style, driven by a pulsing bass line while we hear, “I love America and she hates me. Gets all her pleasure from shattering my dreams,” a rightfully cynical view of modern America.

Another standout is “Swerve (101),” a slightly more late-2000s/early-2010s indie rock track with elements of contemporaries like Kings of Leon, Coldplay, and Keane. Its verses slowly build to the explosion of the chorus, culminating in “Most things solve themselves, don’t you know? And some snowball until they explode.” In this moment we get some of the finest vocal performances of the band’s career. It also offers a bleak outlook on social media influencers, noting that for the TikTok model with slippery morals, “it’s gonna be fun until it’s not.”

There are certainly many commonalities between most of the songs on Oh! The Ocean - most of the songs open with some kind of in-your-face bass line then add synths and/or fuzzy guitars - but there are also hidden nuances in every song. Here we see The Wombats continue to create songs that are happy and danceable on the surface but become emotional punches as you peel back the onion.
Review by Dan Baker