The Orchids – Good to Be a Stranger — music review
So you say you want to listen to a grown-up lullaby. ‘I Need You to Believe in Me’ by The Orchids reeks of the soothing neutrality you seek, lilting guitar archipelagos and even a staccato-strummed rhythm electric guitar sounds sweet. And what the– trumpets? Gentle, happy trumpets, ahh. ‘Xylophone Song’ is just as sleepy, except that the lead James Hackett’s falsetto attempt is a bit painful. Maybe it hurt him, too.
The Orchids have a slight snail-pace rockabilly thing going on, with jingly guitars and a drowsy male lead, all just twangy enough to make you slightly uncomfortable, if Country music is your torture. One could only expect this from a band founded in the mid eighties (1986) with roots in Scottish dregs, possibly making them so independent they may not care if they sound off. Think Trashcan Sinatras (circa 2004, not 90s) marbled and middle-aged with strains of Kalapana (Contemporary Hawaiian circa 70s, 80s). It’s so sad that they chose such an exotic namesake to represent this rather bland half-band. They sound rather like that Psychedelic Furs vinyl you put your juvenile finger on to slow everything to a mumbly lounge-y whir, and you ruin your phonograph needle (which at that tender age, you thought was irreplaceable) and regret it forever. But you did it in the first place because you were bored, right? And so you’ll do it again. But by now, you’re used to it, it’s grown on you.
That said, Good to Be a Stranger is fun, but full of flaws. ‘The Last Thing (on your Mind)’ is borderline cheesy, like a song that wouldn’t be complete without a string of “whoa oh whoa oh whoa”s, and by golly, it does. It’s so bad that it’s almost satirical, making it passable. Oh, did I mention the flute “birdcalls”? ‘Do it for Yourself’ is the same vibe. Doobie doobie doo. Or wait, is it more like track 2, ‘Take My Hand’? Uh-oh, they’re melting together.
James Hackett’s voice is a rattling mixture of an out-of-control warbling vibrato and mishaps hitting and then sustaining a note. Sometimes it sounds like drunken karaoke, which oddly adds to the charm, but you have to be in the right mood to think so. Good thing there are gorgeous guitars alight around him at all times.
Good to Be a Stranger is like a high school boyfriend’s band casualty, or actually, more like it’s from someone trying to be your boyfriend. Maybe trying too hard, maybe not trying hard enough. It’s so hard to tell, but cute points granted for the effort.
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