K RecordsThe indie music geeks in Olympia, Washington are in love with the trumpet these days. Adrian Orange and Her Band, newly released from K Records, is the second album this year I’ve heard that combines a family of jam-band hippies with their high school marching band counterparts.
Similar to the new album from They Shoot Horses Don’t They (also released this year, from Olympia-based label Kill Rock Stars), Adrian Orange and Her Band is a chaotic mix of energy-fueled big band instruments that take African and Eastern European jazzy folk beats and turn them on their head. The music is energetic, stirring and a lo-fi big band hybrid perfect for inspiring the more apathetic among us to riot. It’s almost as if the mass exodus of New Orleans has finally released its ethnic jazz heritage into the rest of the woefully uninitiated country.
But sadly, unlike They Shoot Horses, something has been lost in the translation from live show to recorded album. The power necessary to sustain the music (and make Adrian Orange’s wobbly and hesitant voice tolerable amidst the complex and emotionally-charged musical arrangements that surround it) is noticeably absent. Perhaps it’s difficult to translate the sort of energy it takes to sustain a chaotic revolt. Perhaps the revolution shouldn’t be pre-recorded and mixed from its most inspiring parts. Because while Adrian Orange’s band might be thrilling to see live, inspiring the kind of devotion familiar to insurrection and rebellion, this album doesn’t quite capture the feeling. While its mix of lo-fi indie rock and old world big band music is worth checking out, it may take venturing out to a live show in order to feel like you’ve truly signed on for the uprising.
Review by Jessica Star Rockers
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