Art by Colby Fream of GoodPlant Studios
Sometimes I like to be proactive with discovering new music, but other times I prefer to sit back and let our editors pitch to us Pudding writers from the trove of emails they receive. It was on one of these occasions where an editor dropped a slack message to us with a link to a curiously named band called “The Orrs.” The one-two punch of the first two songs was enough to get me hooked, so I checked out the advance stream of their debut album As If I Ever Left in its entirety.
The Orrs, from Newfield, NH, are the latest band that I’ve come across who splendidly carry the torch of inspired garage rock. Lead album track “Lies Can’t Win” crushes downward with a descending riff. The beautiful “Eyes” follows next. I don’t know why — but listening to the guitar hook to “Eyes” takes me back to a simpler time, my lonely summer days as a sixteen year old spent house painting, watching reruns of Melrose Place, and waiting for school to start up again. Anyway, delving further, I heard the band fall into a comfortable low-to-mid-tempo garage band guise, helmed by distorted vocals.
Their track lengths hover around the 4-minute mark, as the band’s two members’ competing tendencies are on display. Singer Mike Thurston wants to distance himself from the New Hampshire townie bar band scene to which he’s become accustomed, rife with self-indulgent guitar solos, so he presents his tunes as lean as possible. Co-songwriter/guitarist Stefan Mraz on the other hand, encourages getting into a groove, as he pushes the songs further past the three-minute mark than Thurston normally feels comfortable. The result is a medium amount of jamming and downtrodden six-string noodling.
When speaking about their influences Mraz said “recently we’ve been deep on Jim James/My Morning Jacket.”
“I like that early lofi shit when it was [recorded with] acoustic four track.” added Thurston.
“He has a grain silo where he did vocals” mentioned Mraz.
I ask: “Did you record anything on your album in a silo?”
“No, I don’t have any silo access,” sighs Thurston.
Photo taken by Owen Willis
I don’t think the listening experience suffers for lack of silo. Maybe you could listen to the record in a silo? See for yourself, as The Orrs has vinyl shipping out on their very own record label, the brand new “Powder House Records,” ostensibly a nod to the Somerville Revolutionary War site, which is now a park overlooking a Dunkin’ Donuts. Although nothing here is ground-breaking, the appealing 60s and 70s style rock on As If pairs well with these hot summer nights and too-unfamiliar times.
As If I Ever Left by The Orrs releases today, listen/order via this link.