Alexander Laing’s “Oceans” started with a melody that came to him one evening while playing piano. He imagined it as a distant song travelling across the sea, and that image stayed with him as he developed the composition. Produced by Morgan Nicholls, the piece starts with a restrained piano passage before building towards a much larger crescendo.
Laing draws on the contrast between a calm sea and the force of breaking waves. The piano carries the melody through these changes, while the atmospheric textures fill out the arrangement. As the piece grows louder and more expansive, the initial sense of stillness gives way to a more restless movement. Taken from The Delta Wave, an album built around sleep, dreams and the subconscious, “Oceans” fits into Laing’s interest in music that communicates without words. The final crescendo gives way to a gradual release, much like the tide washing back from the shore.
