"Laurel Canyon" is a reference that gets thrown around a lot by music writers (myself very much included). Though it began with a specific pack of artists living and working in that region of Los Angeles around the beginning of the '70s — Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Neil Young, Glenn Frey — it's now come to encapsulate more of a vibe than a sound — one into which Elijah Ocean directly plays. Denim-clad, wide-brimmed-hat-wearing, chest-length-hair-having Elijah Ocean makes truly lovely '70s-inspired ballads. His fourth release, the upcoming self-titled work, still seems steeped in that post-Summer-of-Love sound. He doesn't quite stick [...]