Posting about San Jose’s ’90s dreampop blip Ozean back in July wasn’t meant to be anything than a “this existed forever ago and is worth a listen”, but it’s turned out to be just a little bit prescient. Archival label Numero Group, who’ve done a terrific job of unearthing and rereleasing everyone’s favourite out-of-print college rock, have turned their sights to Ozean’s (relatively) legendary 3-song demo.

The algorithmic hits keep on coming. Set your shoes to gaze mode and drop into this king size cloud of ethereal dream pop. San Jose’s Ozean played just two shows in their brief existence, their lone three songs available only as a short-run cassette in 1991. Numero will be dripping out their catalog over the course of the next few months, with a 12” to follow in 2024.

Numero Group @ Instagram

The three songs had been pressed to vinyl as a limited edition back in 2017 via Moon Sound Records, but I wonder if this edition will be sonically superior, whether by finding original tapes or AI sorcery. As vocalist Lisa Baer posted on Facebook:

Good morning ozean fans and friends! I am pleased to announce that ozean has signed with Numero Group and released our first remastered single Fall today! There’s no warp in the middle and 30 extra seconds at the end. Enjoy! It’s been so hard to keep this a secret.”

Lisa Baer, Ozean @ Facebook

It sounds like the fidelity and integrity of this release is new and improved. Either way, it’s nice to see the release continue its climb from apocryphal to authentic.