There’s no genre name for the kind of band that student unions hire for their school’s big orientation week party, but with Hey Ocean!, that (rightly) maligned style has a worthy flagship act at last. This Vancouver quartet don’t quite expand the boundaries of lite-funk soul-rock with their second album, but they do know how to write songs and deliver them with plenty of teen spirit. The conceit driving “A Song About California” (“Write a song about California he said to me / I think I’ll write a song about him instead”) works better than it ought to, something that the track’s brisk and breezy arrangement helps out with — and despite Ashleigh Ball’s soul croon (which is equal parts Billie Holiday and Fergie), she never quite trips over the line between winsome and cloying. Even if it often comes off as a dash too earnest, It’s Easier to Be Someone Else is charming and skilfully executed enough to soundtrack your next beach blanket bingo bash. 

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