Exclusive Premiere: Ocean Carolina, ‘Maudlin Days’

At the core of Ocean Carolina's new record, Maudlin Days, singer-songwriter Michael Simone beautifully bares his heart and soul on top of captivating grooves rooted in Americana. Today (June 24), Diffuser is beyond ecstatic to premiere the new record in its entirety before it hits the streets on June 30 via Old Hand Record Company -- listen to the record in the audio player below.

Maudlin Days is a bit of a change for Simone; a lifelong musician, he was once embedded in the world of EDM as a producer. Now, he finds himself in the role of guitarist, songwriter, singer -- and mastermind -- of Ocean Carolina.

“I still believe in making full albums of songs for people to listen to," Simone tells us. "There are very few bands these days that can fill two sides of a piece of vinyl with songs you want to hear again and again, or much less tell a complete story spread over an entire album. Maudlin Days is me doing just that."

He adds, "I'm not just phoning it in to try to stay present or important in whatever state the world of music is in these days. It's been what, over 10 years since somebody like Ryan Adams actually delivered a solid album? With the effort I made before this, All the Way Home, I was trying to give people that loved those kinds of records a collection of songs to fill a void of something that has been missing for too long. But with Maudlin Days, I pulled everything straight from the gut with pure intent and made an album that I knew nobody else could make or was thinking about making. It’s truth, with more than three chords and the best musicians I've met along the way to bring that into the light."

Maudlin Days is set for release at the end of this month; you can grab more details on the record -- along with Ocean Carolina's full discography -- at Old Hand Record Company's official website, and make sure to keep up-to-date with Simone and the band at this location.