“An Ocean Between, Pt. 1” is a very personal, very cinematic album from LA-based artist INYO. It’s the story of a 12 year long distance “almost” love affair. The two people in the relationship lived in houses that once stood directly across from each other. The relationship is a Christian and an atheist and it’s about the very real space that exists between faith, love, heartbreak and personal belief. It’s produced by One Way Music with Shoolace. It’s essentially atmospheric acoustic rock with a bit of lo-fi and a very cinematic feel. The influences are Sufjan Stevens, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Death Cab for Cutie and The Swell Season. It’s a very intimate set of songs with a huge, expansive production and some absolutely magnificent vocals.
One of the album’s real strengths is the way the production reflects the fragility of the subject matter. It was recorded in a home studio in a very collaborative way, using a mix of traditional multi-mic recording and some rather unorthodox sounds which were captured on iPhone voice memos and a very low quality handycam. Rather than go in and fix everything, INYO and the production team chose to leave the recordings as they were, embracing the rawness of the sound rather than attempting to smooth it over with autotune or any such thing. A single acoustic guitar on “Over the Surface of Moonlit Waters” was recorded with more than five mics, but an old iPhone recording which had been left on the floor became a significant part of the final sound. The contrast between the rough textures and the wide open spaces of the music is a big part of the album’s character. Benton Roswell and Alex Williams are the drummers providing the backbone of the music and Trevin Kraus the guitarist with a rather dramatic solo on “I Adore”. “Wash” is the song about the desperate desire to hold on to something that just won’t let go and “I Adore” is the song that moves towards healing with its expansive indie folk arrangements and cathartic release.
It’s a properly connected story across the nine tracks (Don’t Close Your Eyes, Impossible to See, Minor Notice, Until You I Was Dying, Unseen, Heart On Fire, Over Myself) rather than a series of disparate songs. It takes you through a journey of yearning, of uncertainty, of spiritual questioning and then the painful realisation that love doesn’t always end as we expect. INYO’s approach to the album is very much hands on, with INYO doing the artwork, the visuals, the canvas videos and the music videos themselves. The live shows are very much in that same vein, being intimate, word of mouth, happening in people’s backyards and people’s homes etc. It’s an album that finds beauty in the flawed, that finds meaning in the spaces between people. It’s vulnerable, it’s ambitious, it’s a very thought out record and it’s one that you just sit with the questions rather than it giving you answers. The way it shifts from the quiet to the more expansive gives the story room to breathe and allows the small things to be as important as the big dramatic moments. That’s what makes it feel so intimate without it being in any way a small or closed off thing.
“We really wanted to capture the sincerity of the instruments and the vocals, move away from autotune and just let things happen naturally so that you could feel the truth of it in the raw sonic textures.”
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