CD of the Week: Orson

ORSON
"CULTURE VULTURES"
(Mercury/UK, 2007)

I had heard of Orson last year sometime, when I downloaded one of their early singles from iTunes. I thought it was pretty good, and put their debut album, "Bright Idea", on my long-term wish list. That is, until I was browsing on Amazon UK about a month ago and saw that they had released their sophomore album. Out of curiosity, I listened to the first three tracks from "Culture Vultures" on their MySpace site, and I loved each and every one of them -- and that's when I ordered their new release and put their debut album at the top of my want list (and had both of their CDs in my possession less than three weeks later).

Orson is a band that manages to perfectly straddle the line between power-pop and indie-rock, seamlessly combining the tight harmonies and catchiness of the former (put on proud display in "Little Miss Lost And Found", probably the best track on the album) with the messy free-spiritedness of the latter (album closer "Everybody!", with the spoken-word-like delivery in the chorus). The anthemic first single, "Ain't No Party", is representative of the album and will be many people's favorite, but there are several tracks I love a lot more: "Radio" is a rocked-out lament on the current state of popular music; "Broken Watch" has a syncopated gallop that is practically irresistible; "Cool Cops" is first-class funk-rock; and "Northern Girl" gets the hips moving with a groovy bass line.

It seems rather silly that a rock band from California can get their albums released in the UK and other parts of the world, but not in their home country -- even after they've won a BRIT Award (for "International Breakthrough Act" in 2007). I don't know whether to blame the questionable logic of the American record industry, or the questionable taste of American music consumers ... but then those two groups probably directly affect each other. Whatever the reason Orson's CDs are only available as imports (although it is worth noting that Americans can obtain the "Bright Idea" album in digital form from the iTunes music store), I've found them to be well worth it.