Artist: Orph
Title: The Pyramid Tears Of Simba
Genre: Dream Pop / Folk Rock
Release Date: 9th February 2018
Label: Kick The Flame
Album Review
There are times when merely seeing songs titles is enough to put The Fear into a reviewer. And so it is with Germany’s ORPH, wading into 2018 with an album worryingly entitled ‘The Pyramid Tears Of Simba’, and containing song titles such as ‘Lightning Pulse On Venus’ and ‘Heart Of A Window’. Throw in some high “concept”, and things could get hairy. Folk Rock, Prog Rock hairy. But in reality, this is more Dream Pop than Hobbit horror, and as a whole, it’s a consistent piece of work. Which is not saying there is a good album here. Far from it.
There are shooting stars and weird happenings documented on the title track, sung in an easy laid-back harmonised pseudo-hippy style, over a dreamy, flowing backdrop. It’s strangely alluring. Clunky lyrics dog ‘The Mosaic, the Whale And Its Hunter’, but it does have the decency to sound like FLEETWOOD MAC which just about rescues it from cliché. But too often ORPH descend into cheese, a sort of easy-listening slop that is simply not engaging. ‘From Century To Century’ for example is bland and awkward, and there’s some excruciating cod-reggae on ‘Where the Tiger’s Gone’, a song that is so lost in time it would struggle to land even on an Eighties pop band’s B-side.
‘Sun City’ is a pleasant enough musical stroll, but the lyrics need to be heard to be believed. It all seems so earnest and well meaning, but it’s just distracting when the words are so awful. And there’s very little else along the way to perk you up. The arrangements are bland, the melodies often half-formed, songs like ‘Josephine And The Conversation With’ and ‘The Empire’ falling way short of what at least is a smattering of potential. And despite a skittering beat on ‘Lightning Pulse On Venus’ there’s no spark whatsoever. This leaves ‘Wintersommer’ to finish things off, which, along with the opening track, is the best thing here, leaving ‘The Pyramid Tears Of Simba’ a particularly unremarkable sandwich, not even memorable enough to leave an after-taste.
Tracklist
01. Pyramid Tears Of Simba
02. The Mosaic, The Whale And Its Hunter
03. Heart Of A Window
04. From Century To Century
05. Where The Tiger’s Gone
06. Sun City
07. Buildings Are On Fire
08. Josephine And The Conversation With
09. The Empire
10. Tom A
11. Lightning Pulse On Venus
12. Wintersommer
Line-up
Marco De Haunt – Vocals/Guitar
Steffi Narr – Guitar/Synth/Vocals
Krishan Zeigner – Drums
Martin Bosch – Bass/Vocals
Hendrik Winter – Guitar/E-Piano/Perc Drums/Vocals
Website
https://www.orphmusic.com / https://www.facebook.com/orph.music/
Cover picture
Rating
Music: 4
Sound: 4
Total: 4 / 10
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