Release Date: December 13th 2024. Record Label: Salvaged Records. Formats: DD/Vinyl
Distorted Folklore - Track Listing:
1.Safe as Houses
2.Time Rips
3.Lightning Miles
4.Timeworn
5.Coil
6.I'll see you on the backside of water...
7.Cicada Hymn
8.Svalbard
9.This Must Be The Place
Members
Jon Reinertsen - Vocals & Guitar
Matt Walker - Lead Guitar
Jonathan Hamilton - Bass
Brad Purvis - Drums
Review
Florida Psych/Stoner Rockers Orbiter AIM BIG with their second full length album Distorted Folklore and once again sees the band go under a creative structure yet again with the band moving from their Doom-Pop surroundings of their acclaimed 2022 EP Head Wounds. That release saw the band being influenced by fellow Florida legends FLOOR and TORCHE. Orbiter’s debut album Southern Failures was powered by Desert/Stoner Rock sounds with the band once again keeping with their chameleon-like transformation for each record they have released.
This time round on Distorted Folklore, Orbiter continue with the epic Doom-Pop atmospherics heard on their last EP but with the band heavily leaning into areas of Shoegaze, Doom, Sludge, Indie Rock and Alt Rock for a record that’s constantly heavy but with the band playing a great original style of their own. The album is spread across nine tracks running for around forty six minutes in length with a classic style of Space Rock that HUM would be proud to call their own.
The “Shoegaze” or “Doomgaze” aspect is a big part of Distorted Folklore with Orbiter experimenting with other styles of music with lush moments of Psychedelic Heaviness and Distorted Drone melodies that are played from the very start. Teaming up once again Jonathan Nuñez who engineered, mixed and mastered the album, the record sounds blissfully heavy and quite forward thinking through each individual track. The vocals from Jon Reinertsen capture the classic Alt Rock/Indie Rock vibe brilliantly with a dominant and passionate vocal performance.
The first batch of tracks Safe As Houses, Time Rips and Lightning Miles allows Orbiter to open the gateway to a more soulful style of Psychedelic Stoner Rock with a subdued embrace of Space Rock, Grunge and Alt Rock that all combine together for music that’s quite uplifting and brilliantly destructive when the heavier Sludge Rock/Metal grooves that appear out of nowhere.
As the band say themselves: “Distorted Folklore" is a loose concept album, and as the songs play out, listeners will be taken on a journey where the protagonist questions his sanity and struggles with loss, isolation, heartbreak, drug addiction, societal collapse, and comes right to the brink of a full-on existential crisis.”
It’s hard to pick out the standout tracks on the record as they’re all equally as great as each other. All of the tracks are passionate with considerable groove and melody allowing the tracks to generate a NATURAL HIGH that can be quite euphoric no matter what style of music that Orbiter employ on certain stages of the album.
If you’re a fan of bands such as HUM, TORCHE, FLOOR, The Pixies Black Sabbath, EARTH, FU MANCHU and The Cure then you’ll easily find something to admire here as there are moments where Orbiter are inspired by those legendary bands throughout the album but still creating their own original sound.
The second half of the album does become more emotional and leans quite heavily into areas of Post-Rock whilst keeping within their heavy melodic and down-tuned sounds on tracks such as Coil, I’ll See You On The Backside Of Water… and Svalbard.
The biggest surprise for me is Orbiter’s rendition of the classic Talking Heads track This Must Be The Place. As they pay homage to that track that sounds eerily familiar but also doing their own stunning version of this track. The sludgy guitars and multi layered Psychedelic pastures are a joy to listen to with all the band members putting in first rate performances that leaves the album in a more hopeful place than it first started.
Distorted Folklore is one of the most soulful, happy, uplifting, destructive, truthful and insightful records you’ll hear this year and perhaps releasing one of the standout albums of the year even this late into the game.
WOW. End Of.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Purple Sage PR for the promo.
Distorted Folklore will be available to buy on DD/Vinyl via Salvaged Records from Friday 13th December 2024.
ORBITER links
SALVAGED RECORDS links
