“The Ocean” is the latest release by Replaced By Robots, a supergroup formed by David Goolkasian (The Elevator Drops), Heather Joy Morgan (painter and artist), and Adam Wade (Funeral Party). It’s their second piece of work in 2025 and an appropriate follow-up to “The Experiment,” their debut extended play released earlier this year, that you should also check out as soon as possible. Sonically, the trio uses various approaches, techniques, and music genres in order to depict a luxuriant sonic imagery. Perhaps dreamy alternative rock comes to mind first, mainly because the band expertly incorporated all the fundamental elements of alternative rock and dream pop into their latest composition, but do not be surprised if you stumble upon some shoegaze, new wave, art rock, garage, and many more along the way. These additional sonic ingredients serve more as enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details that uplift their music to an entirely new level, while the band simultaneously remains loyal to the primary sonic direction. By blending everything together, the band tastefuly levitates between modern and retro sound, evoking some of the finest moments in alternative, indie, new wave, and dream pop music history while showcasing many signature moves at the same time. This dedication to the craft comes with decades spent in a rehearsal room, recording studio, and on the stage, and Replacing By Robots are not afraid to demonstrate all their songwriting, composing, arranging, and producing abilities. Therefore, these experimentations with different techniques, approaches, and styles resulted in a memorable, engaging, hypnotic, addictive composition that will not appeal to alternative and dream pop fans but to anyone who appreciates wisely assembled and flawlessly performed music.
From the onset, Adam Wade’s outstanding guitar performance wraps around your listening apparatus, grabs you by the collar, and immediately transports you through an entirely different dimension. From lush acoustic chord progressions to tastefully distorted riffs, he gradually crafts a calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal, and otherworldly atmosphere that certainly defines this composition. The way he guides listeners through each segment of the song by delivering some of the finest leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, and other sonic maneuvers goes beyond comprehension so many times throughout the entire track. You’ll also notice generous servings of reverb, decorating all these instrumentations and giving them more depth and complexity. His fascinating guitar performance alone makes this composition worth spinning over and over again. Also, it’s worth mentioning that these guitar works also play a significant role in shaping a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. Speaking about vocal performance, Heather Joy Morgan’s captivating voice elevates everything to new heights, commands attention, and brings another layer of melody and harmony to the track. From those calm, whispery, soothing chants to more soulful, passionate, emotive, and powerful vocal techniques, her voice seamlessly balances low, mid, and high notes with such precision and finesse. Besides decorating all these segments and orchestrations, these vocal harmonies contribute more than necessary emotional depth and complexity over an already intricate structure. You’ll also hear how all those additional vocal layers play a significant role during the particular moments, making this composition pleasant to the ears even more. Of course, this composition wouldn’t sound this good without the equally impressive rhythm section. David Goolkasian’s impressive bass lines rumble beneath all those lush guitar works, offering more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth while binding all those mentioned instrumentations with rhyhtmic patterns. These low-ends are intricate, luxuriant, deep, and heavy, contributing more groove, power, and detail. It’s nearly mindblowing how all these basslines blend in with the remainder of the instrumentation, and you’ll definitely see how big a role they play in making “The Ocean” more intricate and groovy. The wisely arranged, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics keep everything in line while dictating groove and pace. Each hit of the snare, kick of the bass drum, accentuation over the hi-hat, and splashes over the cymbals cut through the calm, soothing, ethereal ambiance, making this composition even more dynamic. As you can see, each instrument has its place and purpose here, so you’ll have such a great time listening to this fine piece of sonic artistry.
David Goolkasian, Heather Joy Morgan, and Adam Wade have created a memorable track that sums up their collective experience, knowledge, skills, ideas, and musicianship. “The Ocean” demonstrates a new, innovative, exciting, and unique face of alternative and dream pop music while simultaneously evoking eras when these important music genres ruled the airwaves. From mindblowing guitar works and lush vocal harmonies to intricate basslines and powerful drumming performance, this track carries everything you ever needed from modern, dreamy, ethereal rock music. As soon as you press play, you’ll immediately know that “The Ocean” deserves a special place on your playlist. It’s certainly one of those works you shouldn’t miss. Head to your favorite streaming platform and check it out!
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