Demo of the week
Ocean 8 CAMERON EMBER, a former Sea Creature, makes good use of her performance artist-experimental filmmaker background to front brand-new San Francisco trio Ocean 8. The dramatic "Star" walks the line between nouveau folk and Goth-diva electro-rock (think Curve, Siouxsie, Cocteau Twins, maybe even Garbage), as Ember manipulates her accordion (yes, accordion) with multiple effects; she and bandmates Anthony Koutsos and Paul Scriver lend the piece lush accents such as flange, saxophone, scores of backing vocals, and tabla. "Fireworks" starts quietly and turns into an expansive, rainy-day Gothic soundscape to alienate yourself from the outside world to. "Monster" proves the most interesting song, playing Ember's tremulous, Middle Eastern-inflected soprano against spacey sound effects and engagingly junky, clangy, found-object percussion. Info: (415) 272-3297.