After presenting us with a cover of Frankie Sunswept’s 2022 psych-rocker “Time Flies” a few weeks ago, Shakey Graves returns today with a second single from his forthcoming album Fondness, Etc. that pays homage to a very different musical influence. “I Once Was an Ocean” is a five-minute instrumental cut inspired by composer Martin Denny’s 1957 genre-establishing Exotica LP, a blend of Western pop and lounge music and Polynesian sounds that’s often been referred to as “exotica” in reference to Denny’s album title.
“It’s literally a recording from another time,” Shakey Graves’ Alejandro Rose-Garcia shares of his new single. “Years ago, I set out to make an entirely instrumental record inspired by Martin Denny’s Exotica, but imagined in Texas instead of the Pacific Islands. This track was the crown jewel of those sessions. I’ve been trying to find a home for it ever since, but it never quite worked sonically or thematically with the other tracks. The song draws on the fact that the harsh, alien terrain of the Big Bend region was once a shallow prehistoric ocean filled with giant clams and tendriled creatures. At its heart, this record is about the awful grace of change, so thematically, the shoe finally fit.”
True to the genre’s tradition, Rose-Garcia’s latest track is woozily psychedelic and fairly Orbison-like as its Wild-West guitars blend with a rhythm section invoking images of island living. Check out the desert acid-trip visual for the song below, and pre-order Fondness, Etc. ahead of its May 15 release here.
