Formed in 2017 by songwriter Sam Marandola, Oldest Sea began as one woman’s personal exploration of the darker side of experimental folk music. Having newly expanded the project to a full band, Marandola and company now find themselves passing through ethereal corridors and liminal soundscapes with increasingly heavy steps. The enlarged sonic palette finds Oldest Sea deftly merging Marandola’s haunting solo musical passages with massive walls of grit and distortion. On their debut EP, Strange and Eternal each composition seems to gently undulate its way into existence, all the while building inexorably toward a darkly atmospheric presence of immense proportions. The songs meander along paths adjacent to ambient folk music and the plaintive sounds of Americana, finding their way into the vast ominous territory occupied by doom and post-metal. Inspired by dreams and distance and the sounds of nature, Marandola combines these influences into pieces that are intensely emotional and evocative, yet simultaneously illusory and diffuse. Listening to the songs on Strange and Eternal often feels like trying to recall a particularly intense dream just after waking - a sense of deep meaning and emotional connection is undeniable, though trying to bring to mind the detail of it somehow feels impossible. In this, Oldest Sea represents a unique and welcome entry into the canon of atmospheric heavy music as they continue to expand upon and perfect their otherworldly mystique.