.O.RANG

THE UNREVIEWED ALBUMS ADVENTURE (2/10000)

The second album (actually an EP) of this adventure, according to Wikipedia:

.O.rang (or 'O'rang) was an English experimental music project led by former Talk Talk members Lee Harris and Paul Webb, with a shifting cast of guest musicians. .O.rang's music exhibits more culturally diverse influences than Talk Talk. Webb has commented "We used to be in a reggae band when we were younger... The Talk Talk thing was always very Westernised, and we were listening to other kinds of world music." Among other elements, the project draws on dub, Krautrock, post-rock and world fusion music.

So yeah, let's see what they have to offer:

-N'Hoojek is the first song on this album, this song has a really African-based percussion and Arabian-like vocals, it sounds like they are in a ritual making a sacrifice, hahaha. Anyways i actually liked the song, very interesting.

-Charabanc D.I.P is the second song on this album, it's an ambient based song with a lot of different instruments, it reminds me of China for some reason, an interesting song, something Pink Floyd would make.

-An Ocean Head is the next song on the album, it's a more electronic song. Very weird song I have to say, but not bad at all.

-Core is the final song on this album, and uses the same formula as Charabanc D.I.P, it's very ambient, but not bad, it has some interesting ideas when using the different instruments.

This EP uses a lot the atmosphere and the ambient to make music, which is not bad, it's actually a very good EP, not a masterpiece, but not a terrible composition. If you are into experimental music, you should hear this EP, it has interesting things to offer, and maybe you would like it.

.O.rang are Lee Harris and Paul Webb, formerly drummer and bassist of the legendary Talk Talk, although here they play many instruments; besides the drums Harris plays the bass as often as Webb (and guest Simon Edwards), both do guitars and vocals, and add instruments like accordeon, Thai mouth organ and digeridoo, and on top of that they used many guests (among them a Balalaika player). Fields and Waves is their second and unfortunately up to this day (2019) last album. Their first album "Herd of Instinct" had been absolutely addictive and I gave it 5 stars. Fields and Waves is a good and interesting album, but not quite at that level.

Many of the good elements of Herd of Instinct appear again here, particularly Harris' ethno-influenced sharp and groovy drums and percussion, and the rich jungle-like web of sounds, mostly supporting the rhythms, running through most tracks, made up by mostly warm and breathing sounds as known from Talk Talk (and as expected from the list of instruments), but with some more electronic nuances thrown in. All the tracks are strongly rhythmically oriented, sometimes driven by percussion but a few calmer ones by african-inspired rhythmic guitar licks. There is a good amount of variation between the faster driving numbers and some calmer almost meditative but still pulsating material. Some tracks have strong dynamics building up to a climax or winding down somewhere in the middle to get going again, whereas a few run through at pretty much the same level of intensity. Fields and Waves features 12 tracks against Herd of Instinct's 7, but it is also longer, so one cannot really say that there would be a clear tendency toward shorter tracks. There are four 7+ minutes tracks, although the peak lengths of Herd of Instinct are not reached, and Field and Waves is rather after a variety of ideas, given that as before the tracks on their own are quite homogeneous.

The reasons why this album is not quite as appealing to me as the debut are 1) a few parts seem rather like unfinished sketches (although that's the minority), 2) the variety, while generally welcome, makes it somewhat more difficult to really dive into the hypnotic mood evoked by the rhythms, and 3) rather than only using vocals rather as further instruments as in "Herd" (and here on a few tracks), there are also some attempts at more song-like singing, and in this respect Harris and Webb clearly lack the vocal qualities and song writing skills of their former band leader Mark Hollis. Beth Gibbons of Portishead, with whom Harris and Webb would later record as "Rustin Man" has a very welcome guest vocal appearance on "Jalap".

That said, all these are rather minor criticisms. Overall Fields and Waves is another fascinating, pulsating, atmospheric and innovative piece of music that I recommend full-heartedly. 3.9 stars.

4.5 stars. Man this was love at first listen. A project by the bassist and drummer for TALK TALK where they sort of continue that unique Post-Rock sound only they go in a different direction to more of a World Music vibe. Who knew how talented TAK TALK really was back in their more poppy days? I mean these two guys play a multitude of instruments and both sing. They play ethnic instruments too helping with that World Music sound. We get a host of guests adding many more sounds and flavours including a female vocalist who is awesome! Also Graham Sutton from BARK PSYCHOSIS adds guitar on the first three tracks. To sum up the sound we get a lot of atmosphere, and a ton of percussion beats along with male and female vocal expressions, melodies and words.

Herd of Instinct is a stunning, stunning album. It is pulsating and rich, like an unstoppable stream at some places, but very vulnerable and delicate at others. It is not really instrumental, but has an instrumental feel to it in that the voices are mainly used as instruments and building blocks of the overall atmosphere. Given that this is Harris and Webb from Talk Talk, some similarities are not surprising. The production and sound again focuses on bringing out the lively, natural, "breathing" character of the instruments and voices. Harris's drums are straight and direct (although heavy added percussion makes the rhythm much more complex at times) and again many guest musicians contribute to the overall picture, filling it up to the rim with diverse sounds, some calm, some noisy, some funny.

The songs are never driven by conventional melodies. Usually the rhythm takes the command, supported by some melodic riffs and phrases, in many cases with some strong dynamic leading from a rather "tentative" beginning to a veritable storm that takes everything with it; then there are also some more avant-gardish sound experiments that work very well in my view. Influences of Can's rhythmic improvisations and Holger Czukay's sound creations are obvious. If you like this kind of rhythmic, atmospheric stream, this is for you, and in this "genre" it's exceptionally rich and dynamic.