SPILL EP PREMIERE: CHARLIE NIELAND – THE OCEAN UNDERSTANDS

CHARLIE NIELAND – THE OCEAN UNDERSTANDS

A SPILL EXCLUSIVE EP PREMIERE

You know it’s a good week for music when NYC songwriter-producer Charlie Nieland come out with a new EP, The Ocean Understands. A long-time contributor to the dreampop and shoegaze scenes, he returns with a set of new sweeping melodies and restless rhythms, where the post-punk’s stark urgency provides a skeletal framework for dream pop’s ethereal haziness, all underpinned by the complex, shifting landscapes of prog rock.

Releasing four years since his acclaimed Divisions album, here he offers four new compositions – “Drown”, “Redshift”, “Shame” and “Elegy”. Four by four. But what’s in a number? Four symbolizes stability, completeness, and a foundational structure. In the natural world, we see four cardinal directions, four seasons, and the four fundamental forces of nature.

The Ocean Understands brings an inherent sense of balance and comprehensiveness, showcasing a cohesive artistic statement with enough space to explore this brooding mood, demonstrate versatility, and build a narrative arc that paves the way for the Stories From the Borderlines album, to be released later in 2025. Both releases took root through the NYC performance series “The Bushwick Book Club” in response to various literary sources and were inspired by Nieland’s deep love of David Bowie, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Cocteau Twins, Love & Rockets and The Cure.

“This set of songs is a kaleidoscope of styles. They are luminous secret rooms that reflect one human’s heart in a world at the precipice. Staying creative is resistance. As authoritarians attack culture, they make the mistake that imagination can be controlled when it actually emerges from the bottom up. Culture is not imaginary. It’s is rooted in imagination but it’s more real than what can be measured,” says Charlie Nieland.

“These songs tell stories of growing up, of how we got severed, and how we connect. I burrowed into each idea over several years that were filled with love, uncertainty and family drama. The time allowed me to create and explore sound worlds with a cinematic eye; finding contrasts in texture and time. To create an experience that shifts with each listen.”

From the very first shimmering guitar chord, this EP wraps itself around the listener like a comforting, yet undeniably challenging, embrace. It’s a spectacular journey, uncovering our deep human connections not through overt declarations, but through a masterful blend of driving pulse, the gossamer veil of dreampop’s immersive beauty, and the unexpected twists and turns of ambitious arrangements.

Nieland creates a restless atmosphere, a sonic grace that paradoxically amplifies the poignant, socio-politically resonant messages woven into his sincere, appealing vocals. This isn’t just music; it’s a thoughtful, brooding meditation that truly delivers a sense of optimism and a vision for a brighter tomorrow, leaving you with a profound feeling of grounded inspiration.

Nieland recently shared the dream-pop single “Redshift”, delving into the profound experience of creating your own chosen family, viewed through the lens of cosmic expansion and astrophysical wonder, following the stunning reverb-laced lead track “Drown”. The video, directed by multi-faceted artist Hypnodoll, was inspired by a dystopian vision of a mythical, psychedelic siren song that explores a dark, authoritarian past through jumbled stories of the future. Sifting through present wreckage, “Drown” searches for grace amidst violent, oceanic forces.

Nieland’s musical backstory is extensive, having written, performed and produced music for decades, focused on the atmospheric and the imaginative. He also wrote for and produced such notable artists as Debbie Harry, Rufus Wainwright, Blondie and Scissor Sisters, as well as scoring the feature film The Safety of Objects (starring Glenn Close), the pilot episode of The L Word on Showtime and the VH-1 documentary NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell.

Charlie was awarded a Gold record (UK) for his production work on Blondie’s Greatest Hits Sight & Sound and achieved a Top 10 Billboard Dance Chart Position with Debbie Harry’s single “Two Times Blue”, which he co-wrote and produced.

His dream pop band Her Vanished Grace made music for over 20 years before establishing himself as a solo artist with a mix of nuanced songwriting and sonic exploration, debuting Ice Age (2014) and then Hopeful Monsters (2016). Half of the literature-inspired songwriting and performing duo Lusterlit with Susan Hwang, he also produces and co-hosts the An Embarrassment of Prog podcast.

The Ocean Understands EP sees its release via fine digital music platforms, including Apple Music, Spotify and also Bandcamp, where it can be ordered directly from the artist.

CREDITS

Music & Lyrics written by Charlie Nieland
Recorded at Saturation Point Studios (Brooklyn, NY)
from January 2023 to April 2025
‘Elegy’ recorded live at KGB Bar, NYC, October 3rd, 2021
Charlie Nieland – vocals, guitars, basses, piano, keyboards, percussion, G-Force M-TRON Pro IV
Billy Loose – drums
Dan McAssey – guitar on ‘Shame’
Produced, recorded, mixed & mastered by Charlie Nieland
Cover Art by Hypnodoll
© 2025 Athame Music
‘Drown’ video directed By Hypnodoll™
Photography by Alice Teeple
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR

Also enjoy the two audio-visual gems that Nieland shared in the lead-up to this week’s release:

Charlie Nieland
The Ocean Understands
(Independent)
Release Date: June 20, 2025

Artist Links

Background Photo Credit: Alice Teeple