Orienteers – Orienteers

Ever saw the show Firefly? Cowboys in space with witty dialogue, well defined characters and a memorable soundtrack. Joss Whedon‘s knack for multicharacter ensemble pieces and a good mind to plan ahead made it enjoyable, even if it got shafted by the studio.

But if the show had stayed on our airwaves, not only would many a Browncoat be very, very happy (instead of sullenly pining for the fjords) but we would’ve heard more cool music.

Instead of going into what if territories, let’s check a band that is also in space, but instead of country music, they play a very abstract form of folk. Self-defined as “space folk”, Orienteers self-titled album starts and ends with a very wistful, melancholic instrumental composition. ‘Valediction’ and ‘Entirely’. One guitar-based and slightly optimistic (the former) the other, piano-driven, completely crestfallen and drifting into the vast darkness of space. 

Between these two instrumentals, you get 8 tracks that change styles vastly. You do get lied into believing this is a nice folky album with the first tracks, ‘Walking song’ (lovely, sweet) and ‘May-queen girl’ (which goes into lovely alt-country territories).

Then you do get a sense that there is something else going around. A few noises in the back that you might not expect there. ‘A hymn for the old salt’ is spacey, reverberated and haunting. A single sound (no idea what it is, but I like it) is the foundation of the whole song, with the vocals being whispered (sometimes they even feel like a whimper). Several ambient noises build up towards the end. This is the moment for lift-off.

‘Mastodon’ is amazing, not only to the jarring, unnerving noise that makes up for the ambient, but because it’s when it really changes the whole album. The song is like one of those alleged transmissions of “Lost Cosmonauts” that the Abrate brothers recorded: haunting, scary and mesmerising.

Orienteers do jump back into “normality” with ‘It’s a long life’ (more alt-country) and ‘Little words’ (piano, nice little ditty). There is a little instrumental segue between those two called ‘Man turns to sunshine’. Made me think of the film of the same name. It also made me think of a pretty unsettling episode of Doctor Who (42– brilliant).

‘I tried to picture us’ is a masterpiece. It does sport that whole country-folk sound but it does has a few surprises to hook you back. “Wake up, number 37” seems to be what they try to convey with that distortion attack. Love the track.

Veering heavily between folk, slocore and postrock (yes!), Orienteers self titled debut is a wonderful, dreamy piece of music. Now, if it only included Nathan Fillion as a bad ass captain…

Words: Sam

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