The Ocean Streaming Previously Unreleased Track – “Turritopsis Dohrnii”


Pelagic Records will be releasing their In the Twilight, These Rocks Have Teeth compilation on September 29th. The first disc of the compilation showcases the labels post-rock offerings, while the second disc focuses on the heavy stuff they’ve released over the past eight years. One of those “heavy” tracks is an unreleased songk by The Ocean that is streaming online right now. ‘Turritopsis Dohrnii’ originates from the sessions for the group’s 2013 release, Pelagial, and you can hear it below.

Guitarist Robin Staps said this on the song, “Turritopsis dohrnii is a jellyfish that lives in the Mediterranean; it is the only immortal species on Earth. Jellyfish are weird creatures.They start their lives as polyps, which are basically something closer to a plant than to an animal, something that grows on a rock. These polyps reproduce asexually, by cell division. The result becomes the free-swimming medusa, a jellyfish. Jellies then reproduce sexually, before they die … except this little guy here. Once the adult form of the species have reproduced, they revert back into their juvenile polyp state. They shrink, their tentacles disappear and they sink to the ocean floor to start their unique life cycle all over again — and not just once, but infinitely. This track begins and ends with the same part, reflecting that eternal cycle. Learning about this tiny creature made me think about how we are desperately striving for physical rejuvenation and intellectual immortality — the other side of the coin is the fact that we barely see any old people these days. In a city like Berlin, everyone is young, healthy and pretty. Elder people get locked away in homes that most of us will never get to see or visit, unless we have family members unfortunate enough to become old.

Pre-order Pelagic RecordsIn the Twilight, These Rocks Have Teeth compilation here.