You Are Eating A Part Of Yourself

A new single from The Orielles came out last week ahead of an albumin March. The trio started out as teenagers in Halifax and are now seven years down the line, reaching the end of a self- proclaimed seven year cycle. I'll be honest- the first time I clicked play on You Are Eating A Part Of Yourself, it didn't hold my interest and the second time I played both songs (To Undo The World Itself is the B- side but it sounds very much like an extension of the first song) I was a little unmoved- but I made a note to go back and on Sunday evening something clicked with me and I really liked it. 

There's not much there in a way, it's very stripped back, just a guitar loop, distorted chords and picked notes and a heavily reverb drenched vocal. Eventually You Are Eating A Part Of Yourself dissolves into a wall of feedback, a Sonic Youth/ MBV style of haze, and it all sounds quite fragile but dreamy too- a half awake/ half asleep feel.  

The second version, To Undo The World Itself, is more fully formed- the same guitar style/ sounds but some drums in the mix, the vocal more sung than spoken and the swirl and haze is louder and fuller. It sounds like it was played and recorded live, the three members in the room locked in. The band say its about catharsis, rebirth and reversal, and it feels like they're touching on reaching the end of a cycle.  

It proves that it's worth going back to music sometimes. It would have been easy to have felt nothing on the first listen and then dismiss it. As it is, it definitely struck a chord with me on Sunday night and I'll look forward to the album, Only You Left, in March. 

The last album they put out was in 2022, Tableau, double vinyl, experimental loops and guitars, improvisation, 1960s tape loops and 1980s Sonic Youth guitars, obscure jazz and dub space. And Brian Eno's Oblique Strategy cards too I've just read- which ties in neatly with my current Saturday series. An album to revisit. In 2020, there were remixes by Confidence Man (a superb version of Bobbi's Second World) and Eyes Of Others and before that, back in 2017, a debut album and three Andrew Weatherall remixes, the Heavenly Recordings connection again working for all involved. Chaotic, dizzy punk funk with rattly drums and trebly guitars, chants and shouts and a grinding bassline. 

Sugar Tastes Like Salt (Andrew Weatherall  Dub Mix Pt. 2 3030 Bass)