Only You Left

The Orielles have traveled a long way sonically since their light-hearted and quite poppy early records. Theyve embraced darker forms of music like post-rock, investigated avant-garde recording techniques, and dabbled with electronics. Like any experimental band worth their salt, theyve not stood still and all their records sound quite different while retaining a solid core based around their tenderly sung vocals, melodic purity, and overall nimbleness. Even at their most obscure or angular, their is a lightness that helps them pull off every arty move theyve made. 2026s Only You Left scales back some of the sometime overly scholarly ambition of their previous record, Tableau, grounding many of the songs in grungy guitars, driving rhythms, and great clouds of guitar sustain. The trio were heavily influenced by bands like Sonic Youth and Grouper this time out and they do a fine job capturing the spirit of noise rock, even as they dance around the edges. As usual, they are never obvious enough to pin down and use heavy guitars as an extra flavor, not the main ingredient. "Three Halves" borrows some of the detuned guitar noise and motoric pulse of prime Sonic Youth, but also has dubby segments where a violin creeps into the mix; "Tears Are" has all the anthemic punch pf a Superchunk rave-up but balances it with looping, echoing vocals then segue to fingerpicked acoustic guitar on the outro, "You are Eating a Part of Yourself" conjures up enough staticky clouds of sustained noise to make Flying Saucer Attack proud while adding some Spanish guitar flourishes and an almost painfully fragile vocal melody. These amazing juxtapositions are what make the trio special, and the album is jammed full of moments where it seems like maybe things arent going to work, like maybe the blend of sounds is a little too wonky, but then they magically pull it off thanks to a guitar line that tickles the brain or a lyrical fragment that brings it home emotionally. This record, even more that the rest, is something of a tightrope act that they manage to do blindfolded and backwards with nary a stumble. If that makes it sound like some kind of academic experiment, it shouldnt, because the album is pulsing with deep feeling and its heart is left wide open to the elements. For example, a song like "Whenever (I May Not Feel So Close)" is musically fascinating. It welds together indie folk guitar arpeggios, post-punk dub bass, shuffling drumbeats, and production that ranges from diaphanously hazy to bone rattlingly spare. At the same time, the emotional content delivered by the tenderized vocals is almost off-the-charts heartfelt and true. The whole album is constructed in similar fashion, with equal amounts of architectural delight and gut punches of feeling. The band deserve all kinds of praise for pulling off the somewhat rare feat of being both musically adventurous and emotionally gripping on Only You Left; it feels like the destination to which all their previous excursions were leading and is a fine example of indie rock at its all-around best. ~ Tim Sendra