Orange Skyline are from Groningen and the Dutch quartet inhabit a world that starts at Brit Pop and takes Indie Pop Rock Noughties. They do wear their influences on their sleeves, but they are not bad influences to have. The can certainly play.
They cite Oasis as the band that first got them interested, but we won't hold that against them. Any band that can fashion up a song as damn catchy as Meet You In The Middle is more than worth a listen, it may be a tad corny, but the build up is big and the chorus is simple, but highly effective.
It is when Orange Skyline move away from the Brit Pop that they get really interesting. Sunny Days is a great slice of Psych Pop and This Is The End has the beat of The Strokes. Reflection has a fine vocal that grabs hold of something far more Indie Pop.
Modern Times is very Baggy Manchester, encouraging you to dance, very Andrew Weatherall. You could imagine listening to the anthemic Don't Listen on Channel 4's White Room. Love Bite, however gets a bit too Robbie Williams.Shine On contains a great 60s keyboard run.
Keep It Together is a really bouncy closer, a little sneery, when I expected an epic ballad. It's a little bit recent The Killers. Lyrically, the album is a bit weak, but you don't expect an Indie Poet to take hold of such a commercial album. The drum sound gets a bit irritating too, but there is loads to like.
If this album encourages one or two generations below us to listen to music instead of messing about on Tik Tok, it will do its job. The sound is very Brit, very commercial and Orange Skyline deserve massive credit for trying different things. Not everything works, but lots does and the album is well worth your attention.
You can buy the album everywhere and some places to listen to it are here.
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