Orpheus- Outta The Pit EP Review

Orpheus- Outta The Pit Review

    

    When I first saw the lead singer of Orpheus, Noah Covington, post the pic of his newest project, I was like "damn yo this roster is stacked!" Boy was I right. You got the beast of a bassist in Noah, and I mean the beast. If you ever caught a Uncle Gael and The Politicians set from back in the day then you'd understand what I mean. Dude has as many chops as the sous chef at Benihana's and ,still and yet, such a chill aura about him as well. I didn't even know that he played drums until I heard "Outta The Pit"! That's right, he did the drums, vocals, and rhythm guitar on this piece of art, such an artíste! Is there anything that this man can't do?

Noah (pictured right) in an American Gothic parody

    Next up is Jack Thomas, 1/3rd of whoboy back when whoboy used to be good. Yeah I said it, used to be good. I once saw a Jack Thomas solo set for Zilched's EP release party (back when they went by Zilch), and I was like, man, why isn't this guy doing his own thing? I should've told him that, but back in those days I had the shyness of a 13 year old school girl. Now he's providing extra brainpower to this marvelous project, and it shows in the quality of the tracks!

Jack (pictured left) showing his love for his fellow man by wearing life saving PPE

     I don't know much about this Alex fellow, but his name is @can'tkillalex on Instagram. It's always nice to have somebody who's unkillable on your side I guess. He is also responsible for all of the rip-a-roony lead guitar parts on the EP as well, and produced 3 out of the 4 tracks.  

The un-killable warrior in the flesh

    Orpheus in and of itself is in its super infancy stages as a project. I'm talking about in utero/out of the womb borderline status. And yet they are making records that sound like they belong in the annals of Detroit Indie Rock history. Take "O.U.S.B". (overundersidewaysback for the uninitiated) for example. I've never thought it was possible to hear vocals that sounded both sloppy and in sync at the same time. Noah's voice is like a slip and slide that is also located inside of the mortgage lending organization known as Quicken Loans. The way that he uses dynamics to weave in and out of the track itself is something to note, and it is reminiscent of pavlov's dog wagging his tail around; its really fucking cool. 

    O.U.S.B. gives me modest mouse vibes, but with more warmth and less nihilism. Yet and still, the drums never really settle into a groove, which makes it have its own grooveless groove, which ,in-and-of itself, makes it sound (as the boomers would call it): groovy. The consistent crash that crangles and jangles around in the verse makes it seems like its a white stripes chorus throughout the song, and when the drums finally settle, its with Noah singing melismatic "AAAAAHS" over a 5 to flat 5 to 4 chord progression (the indie rock keystone). This give me the impression that the song never really lines up the way that I want it to. It's always over, under, sideways, and backwards, but never straight-forward!

    The next standout track of the song (fortunately enough for all of the humans with attention spans less than six seconds) is the 2nd song of the album, "Castaway", but as I am writing this at 7:12 PM on 8/31/2020, "Elmer's Glue" comes on, and I think I'd rather talk about it instead. 

    The song speaks of Noah's struggle with substance abuse, and how he was able to get out of that sticky situation with the help of some Elmer's Glue. Not literal Elmer's Glue you dingbat, but with the help of friends that might as well been gorilla glue, in the way that they helped guide this brilliant man back along the straight and narrow path. With the simple but profound chorus of "You keep me all/Put Together/Just like Elmer's Glue. I don't know/What I would/Do without you", it speaks to the heart, and it speaks well. These lyrics might seem cheesy at first, but the way that they are delivered makes all of the difference. 

    Anyone can slap together some cool lyrics, but they don't mean shit, if I ,as the listener, think that you are lying to me. If there isn't any emotion behind the words, if there is nothing that impels me to action, then I really don't give a fuck about whatever "music" you are trying to put out there. Not to sound like a boomer, but that's the number one problem with most "music" that's being released today. I see a lot of acts (emphasis on ACT) spinning tales as if they were beyblades, and not talking about things that resonate within their spirit.They try to catch a sound, or talk about the most popular content, in order to get a piece of a market that is defined by corporate greed. It's appalling to see that some even try to hide that fact, and package it otherwise, because, on a fundamental level, you can always tell whether music is real, or not. It's built straight into our limbic system, which was created around 5 million years ago when we were still tree lizards people!

     We instantaneously know whether we like something on an emotional level or not. That's why the world of music is such a grueling gauntlet to get into. I think the reason why there is so much fakeness stems from the fact that people have a crippling fear of being who they are. A lot of people have zero personalities whatsoever, and they change depending on who they are around; i.e. they are fake. I mean, everybody has a personality, but the people in question have personalities that are like the stock images on google that people make fun of. 

Case in point

    All I'm trying to say here is that the spirit behind the music is what really matters. Sure Orpheus may have an easily recognizable sound, but they also have Noah Covington's spirit behind it, and that is honestly the only reason why I am writing about them at all right now, all equal parts aside. You can't substitute heart man, and that's what separates the mediocre from the great. Orpheus isn't great yet, but I definitely see the potential. And they definitely have heart behind the notes that they play. I'd recommend them if you want to sit back and enjoy what life has to offer for 12  (too short, too short) minutes. If you want to ride a nice breeze of melancholy wrapped around comfort foods, then Orpheus are your guys. Give their music a ring, and you will not be disappointed.

You can find it here: 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/outta-the-pit-ep/1529192427

And Here: 

https://open.spotify.com/album/3ivJZt4rd4KgVh7xiKqxh2?si=8QYItE59RfySA5XxfE57XQ