The press release accompanying this album describes Orange Island as a mix of Brand New, Hot Rod Circuit and Piebald, which sounds like a very fair comparison to me. I’d never heard anything by the band before this EP dropped through the letterbox, so I had absolutely no pre-conceptions or expectations. So I was pleasantly surprised when ‘The Morning After’ turned out to be a little corker.
OI have already released records on Iodine and Triple Crown, but this five-tracker has wound up on Rise Records. It’s produced by Matt Squire who has also worked with Cave In, Northstar and Brand New, so Orange Island join some illustrious company. These comparisons are more than worthwhile. Opener ‘Casually Stuck Between A Model and A Silhouette’ sounds very much like Brand New if you mix their last two records together, while ‘Pytric Eyes (The Same Soap Opera)’ has a very atmospheric sound wrapped round a tender vocal.
‘The Morning After’ is refreshingly good. When so many bands opt for the easy way out by screaming their way through a mesh of angular guitars, this EP relies on the subtleties of a clever vocalist and some intracite guitar lines. I’ll certainly be checking out Orange Island some more now – this is highly impressive indeed.
www.orangeisland.net
Rise Records
Paul