The Orielles appeared at Rough Trade in Nottingham in front of a select audience on the day that their debut album, Silver Dollar Moment, comes out...
Bubbling under for most of 2017, The Orielles from Halifax, marked themselves out as ones to watch with the awesome singles Sugar Tastes Like Salt and I Only Bought It For The Bottle. BBC Radio 6 Music also gave pretty heavy rotation to Let Your Dogtooth Grow, building up the anticipation of the album.
With only a few hours grace, a lot of the newer songs still aren't that well known by the crowd, for example Old Stuff, New Glass, which guitarist Henry explains, “It’s a new one, hence the lack of reception when I said that” after he introduces it. The song has a lovely bit of ocarina. Henry does all of the speaking on stage admitting, “I struggle talking on stage sometimes and these two won’t do it”, referring to singer/bassist Esme and drummer Sidonie.
Sunflower Seeds has an intro that could have come straight from The Stone Roses but then the guitar effects kick in and it goes in an interesting, unexpected direction. Throughout the gig Henry is dancing and, at times, with his back to the audience, it looks like he’s in his own little world.
One obvious touchpoint is The Breeders but, bearing in mind a girl recently said in the NME that the Pixies reminded her of her grandparents, The Orielles, youngsters that they are, might dismiss the comparison. Still, Let Your Dogtooth Grow wouldn’t Sound out of place on Last Splash. Liminal Spaces slows things down after the excitement of Let Your Dogtooth Grow - more bands could lead from this, gigs work better when they have moments of light and shade.
The highlight of the 45-minute set is I Only Bought It For The Bottle, which should go down great at festivals this summer with its whistle and double cow bell. Of course all of the songs go down well at Rough Trade, which you'd expect from an audience that had to buy the album in order to ensure getting in. New song Blue Suitcase (Disco Wrist) is something a bit different, bringing out the full four-to-the-floor, Nile Rogers thing disco sound.
The guitar, bass guitar and bass drum on the Sugar Tastes Like Salt sounds just like a good Roses track but the length of the intro recalls Second Coming. Then the indie-dance guitar kicks in and it sounds more modern but less timeless. It slips back into a Roses-esque breakdown, sounding at times like the love-child of I Am The Resurrection and the Batman theme. You don’t really get singles this epic any more.
And with that The Orielles happily sign everybody's copies of their debut album and then they head off on their tour.
The Orielles were at Rough Trade Nottingham on Friday 16 February 2018. Their debut album, Silver Dollar Moment, is out now via Heavenly Recordings.
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