The Ocean Party Announce Break-Up, Farewell Tour & Final EP Of Songs By Departed Member Zac Denton

After more than a decade of blessing our ears with idyllic sun-kissed indie bops, The Ocean Party are calling it quits.

The Wagga Wagga-bred act have announced that they are hanging up their instruments, but not before one final tour and musical release.

The group will drop their swansong EP Nothing Grows, a collection of songs written by member Zac Denton, who tragically passed away last year due to a brain cyst at the age of just 24.

It came about following the recording of the band’s eighth LP The Oddfellows’ Hall, when Zac recorded all of his parts for a brand new EP project and directed the other band members to add to them in their own time.

A statement explains:

“The process was out of character for the band who usually recorded together and tried to be minimal with over-dubs, but with Zac’s death in late 2018 it was clear that there could have been no other way. As a meditation of Zac’s life and work, as a gift to help his friends bring something of his to life after his death, as an eclectic collection of songs from a young songwriter, and as a final release from The Ocean Party ‘Nothing Grows’ is the band at it’s most devoted.”

Title track ‘Nothing Grows’ is out now and you can listen to it below, or pre-order the full EP right here before it drops on March 14th.

The Ocean Party will also be hitting the road this March to perform their final ever live dates in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Wombarra (catch all the dates below as well).

Meanwhile in an official statement announcing the band’s end, Zac’s brother, friend and bandmate Lachlan writes:

After eight LPs, a handful of EPs and the better part of a decade worth of national touring, we’re calling it a day on The Ocean Party.

After our brother, friend and bandmate Zac Denton tragically passed away in late 2018, we felt that writing new material without him wouldn’t feel right and the time has come to call it quits.

We’ve been incredibly fortunate to have been able to do this together for so long. This band has been such a big part of our lives for such a long time, that it’s going to feel really strange to end it. It’s been a way of making friends across the country, a way of seeing some amazing place around Australia and the world, a way of feeling validated artistically and most importantly an excuse to spend countless amounts of time together. We’re going to all miss being a part of The Ocean Party and we really want to give it a proper send off.

Before his passing, Zac had written an EP of songs that we were going to release at some stage in 2019. Zac was an ardent believer in releasing music and his extensive back catalogue at the age of just 24, is evidence of that. This EP is a great example of what an amazing songwriter he’d become and this EP, titled ‘Nothing Grows’ is some of his very best work. We’re going to have a few copies of it on vinyl and we think you’ll really like it.

We’re going to ask some friends to help us sing Zac’s EP, then we’re going to play a second set that we’re calling (very liberally) ‘The Greatest Hits’. We’ve been really lucky to have had so many amazing friends and fans come to shows over the years and we’d really love to see all of your faces while we play these songs one last time.

Hope to see you there and thanks for humouring us for so long.”

– Lachlan Denton

The Ocean Party – Nothing Grows by The Ocean Party