The world remains a weird and uncertain place to be in at this moment. With the glimmer of hope shining ahead on a horizon of vaccines, movements of civic restoration of civility and some civil justice gestures being made (with plenty of work still to be done); we still remain in our specific situations of navigating our way through the pandemic. The haze of burnout and depression from the past year plus of being in lockdown can weigh heavily up us, as the traumas and stresses of isolation, loneliness, loss, anxieties and so much more loom large in our collective (and respective) experience and psyches. These weights of duress have contributed heavily to homebound / home-brewed arts and crafts the exhibit perspectives that arise from intimate places of candid observation and vulnerably guarded sentiments. The contemporary states of pop art shine like the fireplace glow of daydreams documented in painted poems like the sacred pages of a private journal being drawn out for the reception of a larger audience.

In this very spirit is New York artist Alex DeSimine who makes solo music under the moniker Talk Bazaar, announcing the forthcoming album oceanic arriving this summer via Paper Moon Records with a listen to the double single “such a sunday” / “no ceilings”. Known as one half of the Brooklyn duo Ritual Talk, DeSimine delivers those familiar lush and vast sweeping landscapes of sensationally charged feelings in a more paired down and personal manner on their latest solo song cycle. Oceanic invites the audience to share in the odes to a love shared, a love that sailed on and the familiar hazy thought trails that have surfed through the coral laden reefs of our universal minds, hearts and bodies during times of previously unfathomable challenges. Talk Bazaar takes the listener gently into the sea of sentiments and overactive thoughts and anxious hearts that floats through our shrouded skies of perpetual night in the pursuit for a precious new dawn.

The weekend reflective states of pause wander about the rumbling mind processes of reconciling and reckoning a fleeting amorous bond on the endearing ode of gratitude "such a sunday". Autobiographical cues and raw emotive cadences populate the melancholia of each star twinkling guitar string strummed that spells out the high times, the low tides, the togetherness, the uncoupling, the endearment and sullen portraits of love sick gratitude. The track serenely rests within the mind in the afterglow that recalls and harmonically breathes intimate sweet nothings that gently glide like chaff soaring and spinning in the swirling breeze. The flipside “no ceilings” continues the logical continuation of that weekend feeling, like a hazy day of calm leisure and a soft edge of hedonism. Alex expertly guides the restrained arrangement through a deceivingly unassuming track that dabbles in higher states of consciousness that gradually stirs with the feeling of being lost in the ascent of endless thoughts. Talk Bazaar orchestrates beautiful modern ballads with heart, meaning, thanksgiving, reminiscence and a skyward trajectory that ripples like the waves that propel the seven seas.

Alex DeSimine, aka Talk Bazaar, shared some privy thoughts on the double single:

You can think of these songs as two sides of the same coin: they are both set in the same room, the bedroom I shared for the last four years with the partner I shared so much with over the last ten years. But they represent very different states of being in that room and in very different moments in time.

The first song, “such a sunday”, is the second song on the album oceanic — it describes a rare, overtly happy scene, rolling around on the bed in the sunlight and just feeling really good in the presence of someone else. I wrote this song before we broke up, not knowing what was to come, and the end of this song reflects how amazed I was that we had survived all the hard times that preceded this carefree scene and even in the immediate surrounding intensity of the pandemic and the psychological effects of quarantining in our home, how we could be so light in the face of so much heaviness. Listening back to this song now, knowing we would in fact choose to go our separate ways, fills me with a strange, humbling appreciation for everything we shared.

The second song, “no ceilings”, is the penultimate track on oceanic and puts me back in that same room, stoned and alone, at once spiraling deep into the tunnels of my brain while also resisting taking responsibility for myself, my life, my actions — or maybe more pointedly, hiding in my own brain from that responsibility. It occupies a very particular space for me, not self-loathing but compassionate, yet still recognizing habits I’ve formed to shield myself from the pain of true growth. At the same time, everyone needs a break now and then.

Talk Bazaar's album debut oceanic will be available this summer via Paper Moon Records.