Houston, Texas, USA-based Ocean Pleasant is a singer songwriter who first featured on this blog in 2021 when Jane shared her team-up with Chance Peña, Undone.

By Graeme Smith

Now she’s back on the blog through the release of her EP Ungrateful Daughter. It’s a collection that dwells on a theme that often remains unspoken but is highly-relatable: the difficult relationship that often forms with our mothers, who usually have to make great sacrifices to raise children. With this EP, Ocean Pleasant makes it clear that this difficulty goes double for daughters.

We are invariably and inevitably scarred by the mental health struggles of our parents, especially those of us born to generations who weren’t allowed to talk about it. Ocean Pleasant brings this narrative to vibrant life across five tracks that stylistically range from intimately acoustic folk to the richly layered pop.

First Ring opens things with a descriptive effort that lands us right into the emotion of the EP’s story. The lyrics are deftly delivered by expressive vocals, and underpinned by a textured acoustic folk rock arrangement. Sky Is Less Blue delves even deeper, exploring how our upbringing becomes our inner voice as adults before Don’t Want Kids provides a mid-EP highlight. Its visceral lyrics have bite while its upbeat instrumental provides some catharsis.

A short interlude, Even, sets up Off The Clock, which closes the EP with a moment of resolution, told through a composition that brings together classical, country and modern alternative pop.

Ocean Pleasant’s new EP is a wonderful re-introduction to her sound for us. With it, she starts an important conversation while relating her own, painful experience. A fantastic musician, she had a sound that demands attention, and I’m certain this new record will win her a lot more fans.

Ungrateful Daughter was written and performed by Ocean Pleasant. It was produced by Tyler Thompson, mixed by Kyle Mangels, and mastered by Dale Becker. You can give it a listen below.