Batu Hunca

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  • On repeat: Ocean Alley — Drinks and Cigars

    Another one that keeps finding its way back into the rotation.

    “Drinks and Cigars” by Ocean Alley is all reverb and patience. A guitar figure that keeps circling back on itself, drums that refuse to hurry, vocals sitting low in the mix like someone talking rather than performing. Nothing in it is in a rush to arrive.

    The band come from the Northern Beaches in Sydney and have been going since 2011. Their sound usually gets filed under psychedelic rock, but it is the reggae underneath that does the actual work — it is what keeps the song moving while everything on top of it drifts.

    It is music for the hour when nothing is urgent. I put it on when I want the evening to slow down rather than end.

  • On repeat: Djo — End of Beginning

    I keep coming back to this one.

    “End of Beginning” by Djo has that rare quality where a song sounds like a memory you haven’t made yet. It’s warm and unhurried — synths drifting over a steady pulse, Joe Keery’s voice sitting right in the pocket between nostalgia and acceptance.

    He wrote it about leaving Chicago for Los Angeles, about being so focused on what comes next that you forget to notice the good thing you’re already standing inside. There’s a line where he talks to his sister Caroline, and she tells him he’s going to be fine. Something about that lands every time.

    I think anyone who’s ever left a place — or is about to — knows this feeling. You can’t see the shape of a chapter until you’ve turned the page.