Ocean Alley - Love Balloon (2025)

Nic Blom says the band’s new album covers “every different mood”. Three key ingredients helped shape Ocean Alley’s fifth studio album. The first was acclaimed producer Nick DiDia, whose work with artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine helped the band harness a more rock-oriented approach on songs like “Thru Everything” and “Life in Love”. “It was a little bit daunting at first because he’s worked with so many good bands,” bassist Nic Blom tells Apple Music. “But it was so easy to work with him. He had a lot of influence in helping us build sections and telling us what instruments would sound good where.”

Another key ingredient was simply the experience the five-piece had accumulated since forming in Sydney’s Northern Beaches in 2011. “We can hear all the years that have come before us,” explains guitarist Mitch Galbraith. As for how that manifests on Love Balloon, Blom says they were “just a bit more mature about our writing process. We focused on spending more time with the tracks and demoing, and figuring out parts and sections that complement each other.”

The third major influence was a sense of fun, a response to the darker tone of 2022 predecessor Low Altitude Living. “With ‘Thru Everything’, ‘Left of the Dealer’, ‘Life in Love’ and ‘Down the Line’, we were able to just have fun with the writing,” says Blom. “I think we needed to do that because the last one was kind of serious.”

The resulting album, says the bassist, covers “every different mood”, from the Steely Dan-esque groove of “Tangerine” and the Creedence Clearwater Revival-influenced “Left of the Dealer” to the island vibes of “Sweet Boy” and the blissful soul of “Ain’t No Use”. Here, Blom and Galbraith take Apple Music through Love Balloon, track by track.