March 17, 2014

Scraps’ “Electric Ocean” Is Quiet, Lonely, and Addictive

Courtesy of Fire Records

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.


Scraps
Electric Ocean
Fire

Ramshackle, often inscrutable and surprisingly poignant, Electric Ocean is a sneaky-good, one-woman display of do-it-yourself prowess by Laura Hill of Brisbane, Australia. Drenched in vintage analog electronics, including eccentric thrift-shop synths and rattling, clunky drum machines, Scraps’ songs feel like fleetingly glimpsed transmissions from a distant dimension. Hill buries her echo-heavy voice in the murky mix, sounding lonely and even desolate at times, but never succumbs to self-indulgence, thanks to deceptively melodic tunes that never overstay their welcome. Electric Ocean is mesmerizing, quietly unnerving, and highly addictive.

Owned by no one—except you.

We just keep seeing it happen: Newsrooms owned by billionaires and corporations are spinning their own narratives, overwriting the truth, following only stories that keep them in the pocket of those with even more power.

Not here. We’re not owned by anyone. We’re not part of any cult that demands our allegiance to a bottom line. We’ve spoken up and spoken out while other newsrooms changed their stories—or cut them altogether—to keep the C suite happy.

Our mission is to find the truth and amplify it. That’s why we’re independent, nonprofit, and, crucially, funded by readers. The investigations on our website will always be free to read, watch, and listen to, but our newsroom is powered by readers who pitch in what they can so we can keep asking the hard questions.

Can you chip in today?

Owned by no one—except you.

We just keep seeing it happen: Newsrooms owned by billionaires and corporations are spinning their own narratives, overwriting the truth, following only stories that keep them in the pocket of those with even more power.

Not here. We’re not owned by anyone. We’re not part of any cult that demands our allegiance to a bottom line. We’ve spoken up and spoken out while other newsrooms changed their stories—or cut them altogether—to keep the C suite happy.

Our mission is to find the truth and amplify it. That’s why we’re independent, nonprofit, and, crucially, funded by readers. The investigations on our website will always be free to read, watch, and listen to, but our newsroom is powered by readers who pitch in what they can so we can keep asking the hard questions.

Can you chip in today?

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

INDEPENDENT. BECAUSE OF YOU.

Mother Jones has no billionaires calling the shots—just readers like you making fearless reporting possible

Donate