Myspace: We Are Oceans

We are Oceans is a four piece from Florida consisting of Marko Kurtovic (vocals/guitar), Erik Totten (bass), Neil Parsons (drums) and Paul Gonter (guitar). Marko wrote the songs a few months ago and formed the band to perform them and move forward, so this is a band in its infancy, not its prime.

Two things will strike you about the three songs they have posted. First, they like Against Me...a lot. Second, they're very, very angry. The first point is pretty understandable as they have to start somewhere and Against Me is as good a place as any. "The Day My Father Told Me to Be a Man" sounds like it came right off of As the Eternal Cowboy and "Bathtub Dock" doesn't stray far from the same sound. On "Germs of Men," they branch out a little bit with a more arty, angular sound which leads me to believe that there's already growth in their songwriting. The overall sound is raw, gritty and angry. It doesn't sound like it's been professionally recorded, but at this point, that isn't hurting, because their energy is their strength and it's very clear on all three recordings. None of the three suffer from underproduction.

There is no doubt that We Are Oceans, or at least Marko, is angry, but before you dismiss this as young, middle class angst, you should know a little bit about the history that was poured into these songs. As Marko says, "This whole band is about my life to this day." He was born in Yugoslavia and in 1992, at the age of four, his father had to leave due to the civil war that was raging as the country broke up into the smaller national states that had spent much of the 20th Century under one Communist government. From there, his family spent seven years in Germany where Marko faced ignorance that left its mark on him. Now he lives here in the US with its own set of problems. Needless to say, this isn't the common experience, nor is this common anger. These songs walk the line of anger between love and hate, finding Marko at times furious with God and at others hopeful in his anger. While "Germs of Men" gives me hope for We Are Oceans musically, it is "The Day My Father Told Me to Be a Man" that gives me hope for them lyrically. As Marko sings, "We're not meant to have borders. / We're not meant to have limits. / We are the ocean," I feel both his pain and his love and that has so much more depth than just anger.

For a band that's just formed in the last few months, We Are Oceans shows a lot of promise. They have a lot of experience to draw on in just Marko and as the others contribute more over time, that can only broaden and strengthen their songwriting and performance. They seem to already be finding their voice and should continue to stretch themselves out to make their own sound. They've definitely made a promising start.