The Ocean have unveiled another preview of their upcoming album ‘Solaris’ with “Milk Of My Dreams,” a new collaboration with pioneering German electronic group Tangerine Dream.
The track features contributions from Thorsten Quaeschning, who helped bring Tangerine Dream’s electronic textures into The Ocean’s post-metal sound. ‘Solaris’ itself takes inspiration from the 1972 science-fiction film of the same name directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, continuing the band’s longstanding interest in blending heavy music with expansive cinematic concepts.
For The Ocean, working with Quaeschning was particularly meaningful given their longtime admiration for Tangerine Dream.
“Working with Thorsten has been an incredibly inspiring experience and with all of us being huge Tangerine Dream fans, a great honour of course. His knowledge of electronic music, synthesizers and sound design is extraordinary, and at the same time he’s an immensely talented and curious musician.”
The band also highlighted Quaeschning’s approach to sound design, describing his studio as a place where virtually every synthesizer is ready to be used.
“What’s particularly remarkable is his ability to take a sound you can only describe in words and translate it almost instantly into something you can actually hear.”
Quaeschning, meanwhile, found the collaboration presented its own unique challenge. The Ocean’s frequent shifts in time signatures required him to rethink some of the conventional techniques he typically uses when programming electronic sequences.
“It was a real pleasure to work on the new album by The Ocean Collective. At the same time, it was an interesting challenge for me, because I had to adjust some of my usual working methods and leave the safe harbor of familiar procedures.”
Rather than relying entirely on hardware step sequencers, Quaeschning ultimately played many of the sequences by hand, allowing him to respond to the band’s changing rhythms while giving the electronic elements a more organic feel.
“This made it possible to react more quickly to the time signature changes, while also giving the sequences a more organic feel through dynamics, touch and subtle timing differences. I’m very happy to be part of this album and I’m looking forward to seeing where this new collaboration may lead.”
‘Solaris’ is scheduled for release September 25 through Pelagic Records and marks a significant new chapter for The Ocean. The album follows a series of lineup changes, with the group welcoming vocalists Enrico Tiberi of EyeHate and Lane Shi of Elizabeth Colour Wheel and Otay, alongside guitarists Emmanuel Jessua of Hypno5e and Marco Gennaro.
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