OCA - Aging (2019)

Beautiful, ephemeral ectronica from Berlin’s OCA, presented by the ace Metrón label behind Meitei’s japanese ghost stories and a deep ambient dive by Georgia.

Lucidly influenced by Japanese environmental ambient styles, OCA’s ‘Aging’ follows from the duo’s 2018 tape ‘Preset Music’ for Constellation Tatsu with a longing exploration of decaying melodies and blushing harmonics structures sure to light up the pleasure centres of anyone following new, Jap-inspired ambient innovations from the likes of Nozomu Matsumoto or Kenji Yamamoto to Visible Cloaks and Yamaneko, or even the breezy dimensions of Gas.

Thru 10 vignette-like prisms OCA radiate pure light and good vibes from every pore, treading the finest line between introspection and nostalgic reverie in a way that acknowledges a sort of shared dream or waking life experience common to many listeners. Hailing from Bavaria, the duo’s Yo van Lenz and Florian T M Zeisig operate at a strolling pace and state of mind that almost feels like a lighter take on Wolfgang Voigt’s Gas or Love Inc. creations, had he had a headful of inspiration from anime soundtracks and japanese ambient rather than Wagner and the likes of Prefab Sprout’s soft rock.

As the album title implies, this is maybe a central issue of ‘Aging’, as where Voigt looks to the romantic pop and classical inspiration of his youth, OCA take theirs from a shared but slightly different pool of ‘80s cues; clear to hear between the languorous swoon of ‘I Believe In You’, the piquant strings and grin-inducing choral percolations of ‘Time With Your Dog’ (what a title!), the spirit-easing relief of ‘Making The last Train’, and shared-memory-jogging beauties such as ‘Baby’s First Blade of Grass’.