Stream the Instrumental Version of The Ocean’s Pelagial

When we first started to hear about The Ocean’s new album Pelagial much was made of the fact that — after the original intention was to release the album instrumentally — the band would be releasing two separate versions, one with vocals and one without. Since that time we haven’t heard much about the instrumental, although we have heard “Bathyalpelagic II: The Wish in Dreams” and “Hadopelagic,” two tracks from the vocal version, and we learned why the band decided to include vocals after all.

So while I’ve spent plenty of time with the vocal version of Pelagial and love it just as much as our own Dave Mustein does (read his glowing 5 out of 5 horns review!), I have yet to hear the instrumental version at all. It’s streaming over at Spin right now, and though I’m only part-way through Track 2 as I type this it’s already a little weird for me, having grown so accustomed to Loïc Rossetti’s voice. Though I do miss Rossetti’s voice — I think it adds a ton to the record — I’m also hearing things I never heard before; subtle layers of guitars, quick bass runs, sound effects, things that the vocals previously either drew my attention away from or were just completely covered up by them. The instrumental version is a really, really enjoyable experience precisely because it puts the focus so squarely on what all the instruments are doing from second to second… and there is a lot going on, both here and always in The Ocean’s music.

Stream the instrumental version of Pelagial at Spin right now. The album comes out April 30th and can be pre-ordered here.