Treble is now hosting the exclusive premiere of “Vulgarian,” the new single from Chicago-based instrumental trio OR, and their incoming debut full-length, Pariah, nearing early April release through Dog & Pony Records.
OR is formed by guitarist Frank Hryniewicz (Sidekick Kato, Damp Hay), drummer Matt Precin (American Draft, Sacha Mullin), and bassist Erik Bocek (Ghosts & Vodka, American Heritage, Joan of Arc). While this is OR’s recorded debut, the album is hardly a haphazardly assembled collection of songs. Written over the course of the last five years, the album’s eight tracks possess a focus and clarity that can only come with patience, time and allowing songs to develop as naturally as possible.
The tracks on Pariah are all delivered with a forceful and panoramic production, which gives the songs an animated energy. From the driving rock of “Viking Glass” to the angular and soaring “Witness Marks to the dirge of the sub-eight minute closer “All of My Children,” OR covers a considerable amount of ground on their debut. Whether you’re a fan of their previous acts, are in search of timeless Midwestern instrumental guitar rock or some combination of the two, Pariah offers eight incredibly listenable and masterfully crafted tracks that loosely echo the past, in the present, while looking towards the future.
Pariah was recorded at Blacktop Recording by Andy Nelson over the course of a few days, then mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege.
With the new single, OR’s Erik Bocek writes, “‘Vulgarian’ was the first song we wrote as a band. It’s a good example of our linear song structures which is more attuned to telling a story than a pop song. The title was chosen as a response to the Trump/Putin hysteria that is sadly becoming an unwelcome and unwanted norm.”
The write-up of the song from Treble offers, “It’s a hard-hitting instrumental in line with the band’s pedigree, somewhere between post-hardcore and post-rock, driven by tense rhythms and dynamic shifts, melodic but abrasive riffs and unexpected harmonies and hypnotic leads around every corner. It rocks hard, but elegantly and with a continuous sense of adventure as it goes.”
Stream OR’s “Vulgarian” first through Treble now at THIS LOCATION.
Pariah is set for release through all digital services and on vinyl through Dog & Pony Records on April 8th. Find preorders at Bandcamp HERE and watch the band’s quarantine-filmed “Many Robes” video at THIS LOCATION.
Watch for additional audio previews of Pariah and more to post over the coming days.
“Some of these songs have been around for years,” says bassist Eric Boeck. “I’ve just never played with people who wanted to put the time into learning them.”
Featuring veterans of Chicago indie underground acts like Ghosts And Vodka, Sidekick Kato, and American Draft, OR could have easily existed alongside any of those acts as much as today, though the band is hardly a rehash of previous offerings. The trio plays a unique shade of instrumental guitar rock that isn’t easily pigeonholed. The influences vary-from The Animals to Sonic Youth to Mark Guiliana, and while those may not be obvious touchstones to the listener, OR takes those disparate influences and fuses them into something very Midwest. Equal parts melodic, dissonant, technical, and structured, Pariah offers densely structured compositions in bite-sized offerings, with all but one of its tracks exceeding the five-minute mark.
The trick to succeeding as an instrumental act is no easy feat, as doing so requires more than simply writing songs and then leaving out the vocals. “When you’re an instrumental band, you think more in terms of sonics and less in terms of verses and choruses,” says guitarist Frank Hryniewicz. “There are parts where I was really going for tension, almost like a trainwreck at times. I’m not afraid of making a lot of noise on guitar.”
“Every note is important, every part is important,” adds Bocek. “It was designed to be instrumental music.”
https://ortheband.com
https://facebook.com/ornithologymusic
https://instagram.com/or_the_band
https://www.dogandponyrecords.com
https://dogandponyrecords.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/dogandponyrecords
https://www.instagram.com/dogandponyrecords