When you start writing an album review, you always first read the info sheet or do some research on the internet. Most of all if you write about a for yourself unknown act. This I did when I had to review I, released by an outfit with the strange name ORKESTR. The album came out September 6, 2024, on Sound Effect Records. A label from Greece. Therefore I was really surprised to find out that the musicians in this band are fellow countrymen of mine. It turned they come from Horst aan de Maas in The Netherlands. ORKESTR was formed in late 2019 by four seasoned musicians who earned their stripes in the local scene with bands such as No Man's Valley and The Mothmen. They see themselves as a space rock band. The line up consists of Peter Muijsenberg - vocals and drums, Christian Keijsers - bass guitar, Erik Muijsenberg - keyboards and Ruud van den Munckhof - keyboards and guest singer Loes Bos, who also does the backing vocals. They were initially a band that worked mainly in the studio. But like many, the corona pandemic changed their plans. They decided to make an album and perform it from of an audience. The band's name came from a joke. Every time they made a new song, they called it Orkèsje 1.Because people often ask how your 'orkèsje' is doing. The name stuck and eventually they found it even more beautiful in Ukrainian, where orchestra means'orkestr', with that extra R. That's how the name came about. I is a concept album. Through the songs they tell the story of a young man, living in an unfortunate future where he is forced to spend his life in drudgery and poverty, working for the state in an asbestos mine. There is however an escape: he enters a state lottery and wins the chance to become a technician on one of the ark-ships leaving Earth to colonize new planets. Upon his subsequent return to Earth, he is promised wealth and a cushy job. There is a catch though: he will be the only person actually awake on the ship for the many months it will take to travel to this new planet. The songs on the album are flashbacks of the main character, with which he looks back on his life. A life that he left behind in order to eventually be able to start over, but better. At least, that is what he was promised. The album will is accompanied by an animated film by the creative artist Jan Janssen-Jenzen to make this concept more visual. The animations in this music video seems to be based on old sci-fi pulp and comic books. Next to the CD release, there is also a limited edition LP on 180 gram black vinyl, including the graphic novel Time At The Speed Of Light. And as a limited edition cassette (only via Bandcamp) and as a digital download and contains 13 tracks. The music on the 44 minutes long album combines textured synthesizers, melodic bass guitars and laid-back drums to create timeless soundscapes for this sci-fi musical concept. The music is rather laid back, mellow and most of all dominated by the use of synthesizers. Sometimes the songs gain speed and contain elements of melodic rock and disco with catchy rhythms. But music which is described as postrock, is also present many times. As for the musical influences and references. We clearly hear the influences of the French electro duo Air throughout the entire album. But also the earlier work of Pink Floyd are sometimes notable. The psychedelic rock era of the band. Listen for example to Touching From A Distance. Or Arrival, where you can hear influences of them in a mix with influences from the previously mentioned Air. Well the band names themselves a space rock band. However I don't see them myself as that kind of band. Maybe because they used a concept of man which travels through space? In my musical world space rock bands are acts such as Hawkwind, Gong, Ozric Tentacles and Øresund Space Collective. Unfortunately I hardly hear any of their music in their compositions. All in all, not badly done. A nice debut realised by a number of ordinary and above all unknown residents of Horst aan de Maas in the Netherlands. The Dutch can still make beautiful music and certainly count in the progressive rock scene. Something these musicians can certainly be proud of. I wonder how they will develop in the future with their music. *** Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
