As he discusses briefly on his website, Smaerd intends for his Drommer project to convey a "longing for a more simple and natural time, a time which most of us either never had the chance to know or never cared to know". Smaerd further portrays Drommer as "not a religious, violent, or political project". Which leaves the impression that Oceans is meant to express a spiritual connection with nature, and a desire for simpler times.

The music does in fact include lots of natural recorded sounds, particularly what appears to be ocean and wind sounds. These recordings sound distorted and messed with, but it's difficult to tell whether they were simply recorded "in the red" or manipulated after the fact. Aside from the natural sounds, which unify somewhat, providing a theme, the backing music includes plenty of ambient instrumentation.

The instrumentation is made up of what sounds like analog keyboards, percussion, and a few different stringed instruments. There are a couple of pieces which appear to feature acoustic guitar, but the tuning and reverb leave you to question whether or not some alternative stringed instrument was put to use. The same goes for the violin or fiddle sounds. They almost sound to have been produced synthetically, but because of the echoey atmosphere, it's quite possible that they're the real deal.

The stringed instruments are employed in a folky format, albeit within the same murky, echo-laden environment as the rest of the recordings. Smaerd is a skilled musician, and the nimble fingered guitar pieces work well. Their inclusion provides a change of pace from the ambient tracks, which aren't too bad in their own right. Smaerd appears to have a real desire to get his point across, as these pieces do convey the hectic uncertainty of the ocean.

The only complaints that can be made are minor; The production values, though decent, are a bit murky. And the intention of getting back to simpler pre-technological times through the use of modern technology seems a bit of a contradiction in terms. If you suspend disbelief, and put that aside, Oceans sounds quite nice.