WALL OF ORANGE
Do you remember when music sounded lush? What exactly do I mean by that you may ask? I came of age at the tail end of the last gasp of the musical hegemony that was vinyl. It was still king and was the primary format in which music was released. It was a time when stereos were full systems. Amplifiers, equalizers, receivers, turn table, cassette/CD player, sub-woofers, tweeters (Not the users of Twitter for those confused), three foot tall floor speakers, etc. These HIFI stereos were monsters! A high end system could easily take up a good portion of an angst laden teenager’s bedroom. And the mere volume of sound that these systems could push out…I mean seriously, if it was cranked up to the upper registers of their limits, at times you could hear the music from blocks (plural) away. It was not unusual back 20 or 25 years ago a kid home alone, blasting his favorite rock artist, would lead to a knock on the door by Johnny Law. This was invariably due to a noise complaint from a cantankerous old WW II Vet living three or four blocks away.
The group was born as a collection of songs via Gary Parks,
an indie movie and commercial music producer and former member of Dallas space
rock legends The Tomorrowpeople. After an extensive demo process, recording for
the eight songs that would become the debut album began in the Spring of 2016.
Parks enlisted longtime musical friends Danny Rix on bass guitar and Matt Hunt
on drums and recording began at Pure Evil Studios. With the addition of
guitarist Jay Spence and multi-instrumentalist/backing vocalist Aaron Long, the
line-up was completed and rehearsals began for a regional tour in the Fall of
2016.
The initial track that introduced me to the group is opening
track “Sweetest Blue”. With deep, distorted synthesizer and guitar
transitioning to the spacious vocals of Parks this track definitely at times
has the familiar echoes and flavors of perhaps The Jesus Mary Chain, Smashing
Pumpkins or My Bloody Valentine, but with a deeper bottom end, and a fuller
contemporary sound. Other strong tracks
include the driving bass line, trance-like synth tome of “Small Hour Crimes”. There
is the beautifully composed and delicate, acoustic guitar-centric love song
“Little Destroyer”. Combining the best of all elements from the entire album is
the dynamic and gloriously optimistic “New Medicine”, this song is a keeper
folks.
For an initial release, Wall of Orange has created a barrage
of a magnificent sound, taking the best of Shoegaze, Synth-Pop, distorted
guitar, and Alternative Rock, marking a truly unique new standard to be
admired. In a word, this album is dazzling.
Show them some love on their socials!
Official site
About Hunter: Hunter is a freelance music writer that concentrates on finding outstanding, unsigned, unknown and under appreciated bands from around the world and unabashedly wields them onto the unsuspecting and the great unwashed. His work has appeared on music sites kilScene (NYC/Brooklyn), Mother Church Pew (NYC), and East of Eighth (Nashville). One of his writings has even been shared and press quoted by a Grammy Nominated artist (Do the Grammy's even matter anymore?!) After a particularly difficult and surreal week of work about five years ago Hunter decided to search the dark, dusty corners and obscure underbelly of the Internet. It was after hearing one of the same 30 songs that a so called "New Rock" radio station played yet again on his way home. That is what started him n his quixotic quest. Since then through many seasons of bleeding ears, anguish, and many neurotic episodes, he has learned well how to hone the power of the Internet in his search. Along with that, he has a vast array of concerts and music rouges throughout the US and around the world, and his goal is to find some of the most unique, fresh, and kick you in the ear hole artists and bands. You can follow him on Twitter or Facebook (if you can find him!) About Hunter: Hunter is a freelance music writer that concentrates on finding outstanding, unsigned, unknown and under appreciated bands from around the world and unabashedly wields them onto the unsuspecting and the great unwashed. His work has appeared on music sites kilScene (NYC/Brooklyn), Mother Church Pew (NYC), and East of Eighth (Nashville). One of his writings has even been shared and press quoted by a Grammy Nominated artist (Do the Grammy's even matter anymore?!) After a particularly difficult and surreal week of work about five years ago Hunter decided to search the dark, dusty corners and obscure underbelly of the Internet. It was after hearing one of the same 30 songs that a so called "New Rock" radio station played yet again on his way home. That is what started him n his quixotic quest. Since then through many seasons of bleeding ears, anguish, and many neurotic episodes, he has learned well how to hone the power of the Internet in his search. Along with that, he has a vast array of concerts and music rouges throughout the US and around the world, and his goal is to find some of the most unique, fresh, and kick you in the ear hole artists and bands. You can follow him on Twitter or Facebook (if you can find him!)
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