Track Listing

1. I Am The Morning
2. Catalyst
3. One Day All This Will Be Yours
4. Massive Bereavement
5. Rinsed
6. You Wish
7. Remember Where You Are
8. Amputee
9. Unravel
10. Women Who Love Men Who Love Drugs
11. Saturday Morning Breakfast Show
12. Long Forgotten

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32168 in Music
• Released on: 2003-09-29
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
As if in answer to the current mania for scrappy garage rock, Manchester's Oceansize deliver a debut album of an immensity to match their name with Effloresce. Immediately, they set out their store, the opening instrumental "I Am the Morning" rising from a pretty tinkling to a quite awesome three-guitar prog-rock crescendo. And then it gets bigger, the multi-faceted "Catalyst" raising the tension with numerous false starts before taking off for real. The following "One Day All This Could Be Yours" is another mind-blitz, its muted, very English harmonies recalling Pink Floyd, while the constantly mutating, 10-minute "Massive Bereavement", with backing vocals courtesy of Claire Lemmon from the criminally under-rated Sidi Bou Said, approaches the spacey sci-fi and crunching metallics of prime-era King Crimson. Amazingly, its power is matched by two other caustic monsters, "You Wish" and "Saturday Morning Breakfast Show".

Though Effloresce is not wholly about the gradual construction of complex space-rock freak-outs--the soft, bassy "Rinsed" and moody piano piece "Unravel" do change the mood--at 75 minutes, it does become a tad indigestible. Then again, any band that figures Andrew Eldritch so prominently in their "thank you" list is bound to go over-the-top. Having climbed so high so quickly, it'll be fascinating to see where Oceansize could possibly go next. --Dominic Wills

Customer Reviews

great album
oceansize are a great band, mixing heavy riffs with melodic sounds superbly with an extremely unique sound. This album is so worth a listen if you are interested in very well constructed, well written music with a distinctive take.

A few influnences, main of which i would say is the genius of Cardiacs, however, not suprising as Tim Smith of Cardiacs was once very involved with Oceansize.

Have a listen, you will be pleased you did.

Fine debut album by Prog Mancs
What genre should one put this into must be the first question it is some sort of proto prog but with influences from the Manchester Indie scene with a touch of Art Rock such as Radiohead and some Prog Metal such as Dream Theater/Porcupine Tree with a dash of Pink Floyd. That does it let's call it Acid Space rock especially as this is what their contemporaries and Friends Amplifier seem to be categorised as. Like Amplifier they like the odd instrumental track thrown in which I certainly do not object to unlike Amplifier they do not eschew the use of keyboards to get their sound.

The vocals on this album are very emotive and at times can sound a bit stretched however the lyrics are not over blown and totally pretentious and the songs seem to come from the heart. The band also does not over do their obvious virtuosity on their chosen instruments and as such less is more.

I can recommend this album to anyone with an interest in the General Prog or Indie scenes

Spacious - renders most competition limb from limb
I usually write long reviews, but not this one because I'm almost at a loss for words after being confronted with music as original as this. Full of atmospheric soundscapes, the album presents interesting time-signatures and changes of tempo, walls of sound and gentler moments.

"Catalyst" excites from its very opening with its catchy rhythm and explosive guitars. Amateur bands find it difficult to successfully create songs with more unusual rhythms but it seems absolutely effortless with "Awesomesize" as I've seen them called.
"One Day All This Could Be Yours" is a shift into different territory with its pounding bass and mysterious, gurgling vocals. Its climax is close to punishing in its power and the darkness of the song becomes more apparent as it progresses. For darker people, this would make excellent baby-making music, the way it grooves and slithers is quite appropriate imho.

As the album progresses, there appear more lengthy songs, which may deter some (and is why I've given the album 4 stars. I would have liked to have given it 4&1/2 but that wasn't possible).

With the last track, Oceansize do what they did with "The Last Wrongs" on E.I.P; i.e. they create the feeling of having reached a significant destination after conquering all foes in their way on the journey. These aforementioned are my personal favourites so far on the album but the entirety of the album is vastly worthy of attention for all those with a liking for atmosphere, ingenuity and variety, guitars, bass, drums and effects!