Direct Divide
Own Your Ocean EP
(Self-Released)
This trio was formed in Seattle, WA and is currently residing in Monterey, CA. They are made up of Razz on lead vocals and strings, multi-instrumentalist Kevin Proctor playing guitar and synthesizer and Valdemar Huguet on drums. They describe their music as “violin intensified rock”.
In early 2015, Own Your Ocean was produced with the help of a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised over $7,000 toward the EP. The passion and emotion is clearly evident throughout the EP as Direct Divide gives it their all. With strong vocals from Razz, Proctor and Huguet doing a great job with the music and the added violin, it becomes a bombastic and thrilling listen. I was a bit scared to see how the violin would be mixed into the music, hopefully not overpowering or watering it down, but thankfully, it adds so much more to the songs and really surprised me at how much I really enjoyed it. “We Are Legion” is an amazing song that mixes hard rock, a touch of new wave and then the violin gives it that extra little push. The vocals are amazing, and the synthesizer is beautiful, I really just can’t get enough of that track. Don’t be fooled into thinking that was the only song on here that I enjoyed, on the contrary, every song was a delight to listen to and deserves a repeat listen. “1000 Years” was a great finish to the album with glorious highs, breathtaking vocals and the music, the music just made a tear almost come out from the sheer beauty of it.
This is a fantastic taste of a band that I want a smorgasbord from; this is just too much of a tease. I really hope that they can get more fans based on this and put out a full album so I can hear more from a band that just stole my ears away from a lot of other bands. (Rick Ecker)
Purchase Own Your Ocean EP here.
