Spotlight: King Orchid's "I Sound Much Better In the Sun"

So maybe I've got a slight bias towards duos.  Aside from being a member of one, I love the energy (whether it's friction or pure momentum) of two musicians pushing themselves and each other to create music for an audience that's largely accustomed to >2 piece bands, acts, ensembles, etc.  There are obvious limitations when there are only two musicians at work, and they call for more creative thinking than might be apparent.  The usual concerns of songwriters are always on the minds of a duo, but dynamics, technical ability, and variety are of particular concern.  It's the nature of the beast... and it's really exciting to see a duo pull it off and make you forget there isn't another musician involved.



I saw King Orchid set fire to the Precinct on a cold night in early January, and immediately asked for a record.  Despite both having graduated from Berklee's Engineering and Production school, Zack Fierman and Doug Wartman say they took the material to Mad Oak Studios and The Record Company, and I'm pleased to say it sounds incredible and does the duo justice.  (I'm pleased because I'd be spinning the EP either way, and I'm thankful not to have to suffer a shitty mix.  [Edit: Not that you guys would have done a shitty job.  I speak generally.])

"What I Would Listen to if I Were a Bat" explodes with cracking snare and depth-charge bass drum, and the guitar jumps easily from a menacing wolverine prowl into the air, jiving funky with the cymbal bell and echoing off into the distant night.  The production is as expansive as the song and eventually opens up into a beautifully dark piano landscape, the guitar painting clouds while the deep tom-toms roll hills below.  If you close your eyes, it's really music you can see.  The band thinks in themes, creeping back to the opening riffs before sending the piece off on a reflection of the bridge, making the song feel instead like a journey.

There's a wide color spectrum on this album, moody movements sitting easily beside funk swinging (try to keep still during "Hot & Bothered") and upbeat jams like "Trigger Finger" and "Jinx." The latter features layered guitar and vocals, some sing-along "Na na na's," and a prog-funk (whoa!) stumble in the middle that proves that, at their poppiest, they're still thinking way outside the box.  In fact, the duo sounds as at home with acoustic dittying as they do with more progressive instrumental kicks.  The EP's title track is a testament to this and a real tour de force.  The song pushes and pulls, jumps rhythms, and climbs and dives through dynamic atmosphere layers, dive bombing straight for your melon one moment and tiptoeing over your feet the next.  If you play this record loud, which, if their live show is any indication, is the desired volume (if not very), the effect is really exhilarating.

Now, when I say "saw them set fire to the Precinct," it might come across as a tired metaphor.  Their closing song, however, aptly titled "Fire," is about the closest I've heard to an actual aural representation of flames.  Didgeridoo and bowed guitar loom like smoke blotting out the sun; the instruments emerge and start at a slow smolder before speeding like wildfire, licking out unpredictably and whipping into what seems an uncontrollable frenzy.  The smokey haze blows by and the song ignites once again, and after the album's final climax, the last guitar echoes out just long enough to reflect on the fact that nothing about these seven songs was ever uncontrolled.  All the breakneck turns, dynamic nosedives, atmospheric guitars and thunderous drum fills, whooping and sliding and exploding - all wrung tightly by just two guys with instruments, like a couple of dynamic wizards.  (Or kings.)
  
Stream and buy the album here.  

- Cullen Corley