Review Summary: The funky indie/psychedelic pop/disco blend of your dreams has arrived.
Halifax’s the Orielles have a fairly standard origin story, at least as far as indie acts go. Sisters Esmé Dee and Sidonie Hand-Halford met guitarist Henry Wade at a party, started playing music together, and have been playing together ever since. Wholesome stuff and all, but this standard origin story does bring a very important issue to light: they didn’t really stand out very much. And that sadly reflected in their earliest work together. Let me be clear: I enjoy their work prior to Disco Volador. So much so that I’m in the middle of a crusade to find their earliest work under their original “Oreoh!s” moniker. The search is ongoing if you’re wondering.
But for a saturated music market, one where amazing indie pop is no further away than a few clicks, the Orielles was not a very big draw. Their debut (2018’s Silver Dollar Moment) was met with a wave of faint praise from listeners, with the consensus being that it was a bit lacking in confidence. They never truly commit to a certain sound on that album and it definitely shows. Still, it was a decent enough groundwork. Now that they were out there, it was time to find an identity. Something that would make them stand out from the crowd. And apparently, what they came up with was mainstream 70’s disco and Space Age pop.
I’ll admit, I definitely wasn’t expecting a modern band to take inspiration from such an odd place. Mainly with the space theme, which in my opinion, is a bit overstated. There are elements of that golden retro-futuristic pop sound on Disco Volador, but it takes more from the 1970s than it takes from the 1950s. It’s hard to describe the sound on this album without immediately reaching for obvious similar groups, but the album’s described on their Bandcamp as a combination of samba, disco, funk, and (inexplicably) 90s acid house. Not sure about that last one, but it does show just how many new influences have been pressed into Disco Volador. But while there are a lot of new elements to be found here, the Orielles’ early sound still acts as the bedrock. It’s just given a little more to experiment with is all. A perfect example of this is “A Material Mistake”, a psychedelic disco number that manages to mesh wonderfully their indie pop sensibilities. This new direction is a sign that the trio has become a lot more confident, with a firm grasp on their direction; a far cry from their uneasy first outing.
Disco Volador is the ideal sophomore record other bands dream of: calm, collected, and a proper extension of the group’s past sound. It’s not without its flaws, and I’m sure it won’t catch everyone’s heart, but the Orielles have done it. They’ve made a bold, flashy maneuver and stuck the landing. I’m eager to see what they do next, because this one will be hard to top.
