Old Sea Brigade

Ben Cramer, raised in Atlanta yet now based in Nashville, works as a singer and songwriter under the alias Old Sea Brigade. The project surfaced in 2016, merging sincere indie folk with atmospheric indie rock touched by Americana. A succession of well-received EPs led to the first album-length statement, Ode to a Friend, issued in 2019. Two years afterward came the candid second album, Motivational Speaking, with 5am Paradise arriving in 2022. Several of his compositions have surfaced on television programs such as Grey's Anatomy, This Is Us, Nashville, and A Million Little Things.

After performing with various groups throughout the Atlanta region, Cramer opted to continue alone and settled on the Old Sea Brigade name in 2015. The self-issued debut EP carrying that title appeared in 2016, creating enough interest to secure opening slots with Hiss Golden Messenger, Julien Baker, and Benjamin Francis Leftwich on his first national tour. Later in the year he signed with Nettwerk and started recording the follow-up material. His initial Nettwerk single, the energetic “All the Same,” surfaced in September 2016 and later appeared on the 2017 EP Wash Me Away, the first of three such releases that year. Streaming services gave notable exposure to “Tidal Wave,” taken from the next EP, Cover My Own. He wrapped the year with the holiday collection Songs for the Holidays.

Singles issued sporadically across 2018—“Hope,” “Feel You,” and “Sinkhole”—led into the 2019 full-length debut Ode to a Friend. Cramer resurfaced in 2021 with the reflective Motivational Speaking, which examined the solitude, grief, unease, and disorientation he encountered during the COVID-19 lockdown. His third Old Sea Brigade album, 5am Paradise, released in 2022, presented a more fluid musical approach.