I have a playlist on my iPod titled “Not Distracting.” As one might imagine, it helps me focus, and consists of what I consider pleasant, unobtrusive background music. Most of it is instrumental, and in terms of genres I have some ambient, electronic, and fairly bland prog metal on it, but most is post-rock. Sigur Ros, Betrayal at Bespin, Explosions in the Sky, God is an Astronaut, 65 Days of Static.
This last category, post-rock, while it can be incredibly atmospheric and feature some of the most satisfying buildup in all of music, can also be very difficult to focus on (thus “not distracting”) when it lacks any sort of substance. It can raise itself to a roaring peak, but it’ll sound too flowery and bright, or it can just meander about with enough ebb and flow to be considered post-rock but never really go anywhere. Post-metal, as opposed to post-rock, doesn’t really suffer from the first of these two problems, but a band like Ocean Districts sure as hell suffers from the second.
Without any backing in sludge or black metal, Ocean Districts is straight up post-metal and a heavier version of one of these post-rock bands with no substance. The name of their debut album is Expeditions, and many of the song titles and samples deal with themes of travel or exploration. While some of it has a bold, intrepid, forge-ahead feel to it, conversely, the music itself does not explore jack shit. It is generic post-metal – not very original, and worse yet, not even interesting.
There is nothing necessarily wrong with the music, and by no means is it bad or unpleasant. It is instrumental, and not that there is anything wrong with instrumental music, but vocals might add some much-needed personality to Ocean Districts’ sound. It relies predominantly on the other traditional rock instruments, with the occasional keyboard flourishes or symphonic bits. Expeditions has its rise and fall like most post-metal does, but don’t expect any slow buildup in the vein of Godspeed You! Black Emperor – just look at the short song lengths on this album, with only two passing the six minute mark. Instead there is a distinct separation between louder, heavier parts and soft ones, with little in-between. Heavy takes up the bulk of the album, soft parts used often as interludes or intros that lead into the rest of the song. It is this one-sidedness and meandering that most likely accounts for Expeditions’ blandness. Still, the heavy songs are not even particularly hard, many of them still approachable for an individual who does not listen to metal, and it is perhaps a bit surprising that Ocean Districts has been accepted onto the website especially when one considers the post-metal bands that are not here. And to restate my main point about this album, other than the two samples that come out of nowhere, nothing about Expeditions is able to grab the listener’s attention.
Unless you’re like me and you like unremarkable post-rock/metal as background music to help you concentrate, Ocean Districts is not a point of interest. It sounds kind of nice but it lacks any substance, hard to notice and even harder to focus on.