Oceans of The Moon

Oceans of the Moon fuses indie rock with secondhand electronics inside a garage-tinged, psychedelically warped strain of space rock assembled by Rick Pelletier, one-time member of Six Finger Satellite.

The band’s self-titled debut album from 2019 layers buzzing keyboards and skeletal guitars over acoustic and electronic percussion, producing propulsive pieces that nonetheless radiate an undercurrent of enigma and threat, evoking a contemporary take on 1950s science-fiction soundtracks.

The group traces its origins to Pelletier’s earlier project La Machine, active during the final years of Six Finger Satellite in the mid- to late 1990s.

La Machine carried forward SFS’s dual interest in rock and synthesizers while amplifying dance-music elements; despite issuing almost no official recordings at the time, the project received a posthumous compilation, Phases & Repetition, when John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees released it on his Castle Face label in 2013.

Around the same period, Pelletier—who had just wrapped up a stint in the indie-rock band the Chinese Stars—teamed with La Machine drummer Jon Loper and synthesizer player Dare Matheson to pursue shared enthusiasms for Motorik rhythms and R&B grooves.

After Dwyer heard early recordings by the new trio, he volunteered to issue their first album, and Castle Face released Oceans of the Moon in July 2019.