Wool God // Oceana
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhW8Zh-8LEE&w=740&h=422]
What a fantastic, underrated band. Oceana was a metalcore band turned indie rock (similar to As Cities Burn, if you’re old enough to remember them). When I got to college I befriended a recent grad who was working in our Christian Campus Ministries, and upon talking one day he ripped into the originality of music in Christian culture, as well as mainstream culture. He encouraged me to expand my horizons.
There are a few bands that come to mind when I think of “expanding your horizons” – The Get Up Kids, Cave In, Transit. But since they had such a dramatic change and I’ve known about them for years, Oceana is still one of the first bands I think of in terms of experimentation. I have approached listening to music and writing music differently ever since that talk I had with my friend – and Oceana ended up being just the tip of the iceberg.