Sometimes I am wrong. There, I’ve admitted it. Not very often mind (there goes my modesty), but there are occasions when I review a band only for them to pop back a year or so later and make me look like a bit of an idiot. ‘Creating Short Fiction’ makes my previous description of Orko (I think I muttered something about them being average and generic) look a little stupid. Their mix of Hundred Reasons-esque melodies, My Awesome Compilation style vocals and even some Explosions In The Sky-esque atmospheric bits suggests they should be spoken about a lot more on PT. Hopefully this review will encourage people to check them out.
I felt Orko went wrong on their last EP because they just sounded like every other wannabe post-hardcore band. But this album, released on Gravity DIP, is a little beaut. It’s extravagant without going overboard (see the excellent ‘Drink Up And get Out’), yet maintains a sense of indie-cool throughout. each track has a strong, vibrant style which manages to produce some rather large hooks and some very catchy melodies.
And while the use of the word ’emotion’ usually gets mistaken for ’emo’ – or something else equally sinister – you get the feeling that when Orko sing loud, they sing as though they mean it. The MAC-esque ‘Travel Plans’ has a lovely chorus, while ‘Paper. Scissors. Stone’ has a bit of a Smashing Pumpkins guitar riff going on which sounds rather nice. This is a great little record. Maybe I had lower expectations, but credit where it’s due – this is a vast improvement and hopefully their UK stock will rise on the back of its release.