He might not be a genuine household name, but Charlie Nieland has had a busy career. He’s written material with Rufus Wainwright, Scissor Sisters and Blondie, and produced a number of albums for some lesser known indie rock bands, but – familiar name or not – one look at his extensive credits on Discogs shows him to be a man in demand.

‘The Ocean Understands’, a four track EP released in June 2025, puts Nieland even more in the spotlight. The solo recording finds him playing a variety of instruments (everything except the drums, and a featured guitar on one track), as well as handling all vocals. The material really showcases someone with a broad array of talents, even at times where his own songwriting mightn’t aim for that immediate hit.

Charlie opens the release in grand style. Throughout a long, sprawling five minutes ‘Drown’ slowly builds a superb atmosphere. A wall of distortion quickly branches out into an even bigger sounding swirl of guitars that borrow from drone and heavy shoegaze in equal measure, and the addition of a slow beat increases the tension and lends the minimalist arrangement more of a structure, over which Nieland delivers a particularly moody vocal. His chosen tone doesn’t seem to have any real commercial interests either, but the way it works in tandem with the huge guitar sound creates something great. Eventually dropping into far more of a psychedelic drenched riff – complete with phased effects and a second guitar adding bright, ringing tones – a definite melody is slowly born, and for those who’ve found a love for the dense sound prior to this point, this will signify a track that moves from arty but interesting into something that’s potentially a touch more accessible without being too commercial. It won’t be for everyone, of course, but in terms of whipping up some excitement via some very retro alternative sounds, Nieland certainly achieves his chosen goal.

From there, the artist takes his audience through a few similarly downbeat moods, but is clearly aware of the need for a little variety if their interest is to be held. ‘Redshift’, with its heavily strummed guitars, moves closer to a mix of dark indie and janglepop, but the arrangement isn’t content to settle there. Nieland takes his very gentle sound and layers it with keys and other atmospherics to give the melody a prog-ish texture. After a little settling in, the mood becomes vaguely Floydian, sharing something that couldn’t be further from the previous shoegaze influences if it tried. Ensuring the proggy lilt isn’t lost on anyone, this track also boasts a rather cheeky middle eight where Nieland abandons his main melody to break into something that’s dangerously close to Pink Floyd’s classic ‘Breathe’, and an influence that was once subtle becomes glaringly obvious. As knowing as it may be, this musical twist takes this track from the realms of good to great, potentially making it the EP’s highlight. Delving into the even more atmospheric, ‘Elegy’ opens with bright sounding notes, echoing in such a way that creates a layered effect. From a melodic standpoint, it sounds like a classic dreampop band teasing with something oriental, but as it turns out, this rather slight melody is perfect for the job in hand. Over the next couple of minutes, Charlie adorns the gentle tune with a spoken word performance, and then twists an almost ambient drone into something vaguely proggy. When returning to the spoken word elements, none of the previous atmosphere is lost, despite the instrumental moments threatening to derail everything. In the right time and place, this will be a great listen; for the intimate crowd who were present at the live show that spawned this recording, it will likely have created a memory to treasure.

Sticking out somewhat, ‘Shame’ takes a rockier turn when Charlie takes the guts of a college rock rhythm and huge jangle setting something very 80s in place, and contrasts it with a near spoken, very 70s vocal. There are moments where that voice is clearly inspired by ‘Transformer’ era Lou Reed, and others where broader melodies hint at a love for the decade’s post-glam/proto punk, and the by the time louder creep in to create a superb climax, the track ends up somewhere very different than expected. The louder elements of the tnumber are definitely early Roxy/’Warm Jets’ era Eno derived, but that only adds to the coolness here.

Throughout all four tracks that make up ‘The Ocean Understands’, the listener could spend a long time playing “spot the influence”, but Nieland splices these elements together with style. His multi-instrumentalist skills are constantly impressive, and even when the material opts for more of a slow burn, three of the tracks leave the listener with something that creates a wonderful sense of “mood”. Although sometimes aimed at the more curious art rock fan, this is definitely a recommended listen.

June/July 2025