Elise Okusami, a Brooklyn-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, performs as Oceanator. Her project surfaced in 2016, merging heavy grunge textures, fuzzed-out indie rock, and intimate lyrics with incisive pop hooks that incorporate synth layers. The debut album Things I Never Said appeared in 2020, followed two years later by Nothing's Ever Fine, co-produced by Bartees Strange. For her third album, Everything Is Love and Death, released in 2024, she partnered with Will Yip, the producer known for his work with Turnstile.
A native of Maryland, Okusami began making music at a young age, launching her first band in fourth grade and performing regionally while issuing recordings alongside her brother and a mutual friend. After high school she enrolled at Vassar College in New York, where she majored in history and music and distinguished herself as a rugby standout. Following graduation she settled in New York City, immersed herself in the punk and underground community, and performed in multiple bands—six simultaneously—while maintaining full-time employment. She adopted the Oceanator name in 2016 and issued a self-titled EP that year. The follow-up EP Lows arrived in 2018 on Tiny Engines, establishing her as a prominent voice in the N.Y.C. D.I.Y. scene. After Tiny Engines folded, she founded her own imprint, Plastic Miracles, and released the apocalyptic debut album Things I Never Said in 2020. Her sophomore effort, Nothing's Ever Fine, came out in 2022; Bartees Strange co-produced the eleven-track collection, which featured the propulsive single "Bad Brain Daze" with its power-pop leanings. For Everything Is Love and Death she again worked with Grammy-nominated Will Yip, whose prior credits include Turnstile and Title Fight. Issued in 2024, the album revisited Okusami's central themes of apocalypse and love while building on a more muscular, pop-driven sonic base.
