The Orielles
“Sonic exploration” is the keyword for The Orielles’ exhilarating new release, Tableau, and, to be fair, for any of their records!
Coming from the realms of lo-fi indie pop and space rock, the British trio gained influence from Manchester’s underground culture, populated by DJs and electronic music producers. That kind of methodology led them to manufacture their chaotic and euphoric new sound: a complex palette of acoustic layers get processed through digital plugins and then lost in a shoegaze landscape.
In this third LP, The Orielles attempt to represent the present: they venture into a variety of genres that taps into dream pop, post-rock, free jazz; evoking Thom Yorke’s latest productions as well as Sonic Youth or FKA Twigs.
How is this going to be translated into their live show at MOMO Festival? The band promise to expect the unexpected!
On their fourth album, Tableau, the exploratory, ambitious side of the band’s music has never been more clear. Many of the songs pick through various genres, magpie-style, subverting expectations: Honfleur Remembered is easy-listening R&B delivered with the light electronic touch of the French band Air, while the bassline of Airtight walks a line between frenetic funk and intergalactic hyper-pop. Likewise, The Room opens as a dance track, but immediately morphs into skittish indie, evoking the skinny-jeaned guitar bands of the 00s. Album Review by “The Guardian”
The progression from their previous material to this really cannot be understated. The advance is huge, widescreen in its intention, but with sleepy eyes, awake, but still in a dream. Tableau follows in a long line of unexpected shifts in sound, like Kid A, like Slowdive’s Pygmalion, like Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden. Delicate and crystalline in sound & execution, what we have here is brave, innovative, unexpected, and brilliant. Album Review by “The Line of Best Fit”
When I speak to the band, they are in the thick of rehearsals for these shows. “You fall back in love with certain songs and out of love with others, the cycle does keep changing,” explains Esmé, “and then going forward next year, we’ve got certain songs that we’ve not played out as much and we’re definitely going to focus on, other ones will be put back for a bit. We’re constantly reinventing how our live sound is.”
“We’ve always loved the live sound being a completely different entity to the album anyway,” says Sidonie, “who is to say we can’t Goyt the whole thing for a live set?” Interview with “The Quietus”