Orange Vision has been flickering firmly on the new band sonar for a little while this year and their latest track, Dark Around The Eyes, adds even more resounding undercurrents in their favour. Off-kilter and lofting, it’s got comparisons with a number of tracks from The Horrors’ impressive third album, Skying, but equally there’s a lot of other influences locked up in the mix too, ranging from post punk, glam, shoegaze and new wave melodic pop.
Set for a release date on digital download on the 28th August 2015, Dark Around The Eyes will be coming out with the addition of another cool new track called Wish You Were Orange, and you can listen to both of them in the music stream below. Hard copies won’t be on the way for either of them just yet, as the Oxford band is a very new addition to British music scene, but if they continue their excellent run of form then it’s only a matter of time before we get to see a full album in the local record shop.
The first of the two tracks kicks off with an upbeat electric rhythm and drum chaser before the reverb drenched melody kicks in. The under side of it all is a dour and crunching guitar rhythm, acting as a counterpoint to the riff and tying the song into the mid-range vocals of lead singer, Edmund Quigley, who keeps a very level playing field throughout.
It’s gets a rapid-fire interlude just after the half way point that makes for a strong divergence from the rest of the song, kicked off by yet another interwoven electric guitar melody. The pace of the drums builds quickly to frenetic proportions, taking shimmering tambourine flicks with it before returning to the closing section of the track, which ends with a discordant wind down.
The two new tracks were recorded at Courtyard Studios in Orange Vision’s home town of Oxford, with the help of producer, engineer and mixer Ian Davenport. Having worked with the likes of Band of Skulls, Gaz Coombes and Ride he’s obviously had a lot of experience at helping bands record to a high quality and that’s the case again on both Dark Around The Eyes and their other new release, Wish You Were Orange.
The band cites The Horrors, T-Rex, Pulp and Ride as their influences and you can hear little elements and hints of each of these in the new songs, but equally there’s a little new wave twist to it all. It’s not at all stripped back or quite as reverb laced in the vocals, but we’d also draw comparisons to the 2013 Trailer Trash Tracy’s track, You Wish You Were Red.
The new songs come on the back of the success of last year’s How You Feel and Forcefield and if all of the new material is anything to go by, we’re already looking forward to listening to what Orange Vision do next. Their music is evolving well, going from the steadfast howl of rock and roll last year to the post punk new wave psych that they’ve managed to evoke in their 2015 tracks.
Orange Vision, Dark Around The Eyes review: 4/5
