I remember back in 2003, when we were working on the songs that would eventually become On Leaping From Airplanes, the five then-members of Oceanographer had just worked out the transition from the bridge to the final chorus of “Lydia, You’re Fading.” Our lead guitarist at the time, Stephen Kimbrell, said, “This feels like when the birds open up into song in the trees at the start of spring, saying ‘Welcome back.’”

That is, in fact, how the lyrics leading out of the bridge came to be: “So you run outside singing, ‘Why don’t we join their holy noise? Welcome back, welcome back.’”

Today is not, as you may have noticed, in spring. It’s October, and more than twenty years have passed since that conversation. Nevertheless, it’s stuck in my head: “Welcome back, welcome back.”

That’s because there’s another kind of homecoming in the works: Oceanographer’s.

We were asked this August to play a show upstate at our friend Alex’s barn (you may remember him as the drummer for longtime Oceanographer labelmates and friends, the late great Hula). This would mark our first live show in several years, as the band dwindled in members to just Eric Elterman and myself (Jeremy Yocum), and we focused on building a more introspective recording repertoire (some of which you’re now on track to hear this year or next).

Eric and I have been talking for a few years now about performing live again, and we took this as the kick in the pants we’d need to finally put a set together. We played August 24th to a group of friends and family members, and we’re building on the songs we prepped then, and are in talks with at least two promoters at the moment about shows open to the public next year — or maybe even late this year.

In the intervening time, we have lost our email list. We’ll be building a new one soon, and will have a sign-up here for those of you who want to resume receiving our love letters to you.

In the meantime, the best way to keep your finger on the pulse of all things Oceanographer is by following us on Bluesky or Mastodon.

(Or, if you insist, on Twitter — though we’ll mostly just be telling you there that we’ve announced news on the other, decentralized and nonalgorithmic platforms.)

In the meantime, thanks for remembering us — and we hope to see you in person at a venue very, very soon!