It turns out good things really do come to those who wait! Geelong band ORB had to head all the way to South Australia to spark the inspiration for their latest album.
When I say we’ve been waiting forever for a new ORB record, I really mean we’ve been waiting forever.
To put into perspective how long it’s actually been, their previous effort, The Space Between, would have started and finished high school in the years since its release. Six whole years. A lot can change in that time – and in this instance, it has.
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As Zak Olsen gently hums on album opener and title track, Tailem Bend, it’s been “time enough to grow”, both as a group and individuals, so six years down the track, should we be expecting the same sound rehashed for album number four? Probably not.
Although, as the opener progresses Olsen’s assertion quickly turns into self-doubt, questioning both his sanity and motivation, before accepting, “I don’t know it all. ”
So should we be expecting ORB in their final form? God no.
But that’s not what Tailem Bend is. It’s an album of exploration – a fun, experimental release that plays out like a ‘time capsule album’, reflecting back and exploring a range of the group’s early influences before culminating with the ORB we’ve grown to expect.
‘Karma Comes’ sees the now four-piece channelling elements of earlier projects, with its slow-draw snare arrangements, psychedelic melodies, and soft, Zeppelin-esque folk-rock guitars infusing in elements of the group’s first outfit, The Frowning Clouds. ‘Can’t Do That’ toys with the flashy theatrics of T-Rex glam-rock riffs and guitar-driven melodies before diving head-first into a jungle disco break reminiscent of the Afro-Jazz movement. In other moments, the aptly named ‘Golden Arch’, sees the group pay homage to English rock pioneers The Stranglers, with a fluid, jam-like interpolation of ‘Golden Brown’.
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It truly is an album that explores each of the members individual influences from birth up until now. Which at times makes it feel like less of an album and more like a teenager still trying to find their style, but that’s ultimately where its biggest strength lies – it’s courage in trying something new.
Considering ORB have long been a group whose albums have been rooted in concept and cohesion, it’s refreshing to hear them tackle a more idiosyncratic approach and find new ways to pack the same signature punch they’ve always had, without simply relying on guitar tuning and distortion pedals.
Overall, the impact is evident. By the time Tailem Bend rolls around to ‘Morph’ and ‘Commandment’, its final two tracks which see the group returning to the psychedelic doom fuzz they have always cut their teeth on, it’s hard not to notice the difference to their earlier material, with both tracks relying more on stripped back riffs, shoegaze dissonance, and slow, grimy time signatures, than blaring doom metal chuggs.
It may not be the ORB that so many fanatics were expecting when they announced their return, but it’s a welcomed change up that redefines the once niche scope of the much-loved local outfit.
Taliem Bend is out now for Geelong psych-doomer ORB. Listen to it here.
Label: Flightless Records
Release Date: Out now
