colourotterspaces:

            Sensational Living by Orchard Thief (Sam Molstad) is the aptly named title for his newest nine-song LP.  The album is something of a new/old direction for OT. To preface, I had never heard Sam play a solo set until our short-lived art collective played a show in my basement in 2008. During this set I was blown away, he had no vocals, no fancy equipment outside of a guitar and a delay pedal. However, he created a lush 15-minute set filled with a calming wall of sound and loose, yet catchy melodies that seemed to flicker in front of the listener for only seconds and then would be lost again behind reverberating guitar chords. This album immediately brought me back to my earliest impressions of Orchard Thief. Yet, there is a more realized objective here and a self-confidence in this work that is indicative of someone who has silently released a handful of bedroom pop albums in the last few years.

            Though the album is only 30 minutes in length the songs in between the leadoff track and closer seem to take the listener on a much longer and weirder journey. The leadoff track “Sensational Living” is reminiscent to James Hurley’s weird guitar song in Twin Peaks. Yet two-thirds of the way through the song, it breaks down and everything that may have been preconceived about the album’s sound/route gets thrown into disarray. No more does Sam seem confided by a tempo on a drum machine or the need to fill every second of the album with a pretty background façade. Instead this album is almost oft putting in its sparseness. Every chord played or lyric sung seems that much more important, just because of the scarcity at which either appear.  I put up a song that is a good encapsulation of the album as a whole. “Through the Dark” starts with a dancing beat but then Sam lays an unsettling guitar layer and then removes the drums and guitar entirely to reveal a soft and ghastly vocal part. The song never progresses how I thought it was going to and that is probably an apt description for the album. Maybe I have been in New York too long but it is incredible that I can know someone as well as I know Sam and be so surprised by him. This is a good thing because this is a beautiful and weird album; I am just surprised how freely he seemed to transition out of his more meticulous work. The ethereal nature of this seems to imply there are no strings here. 

            “Sensational Living”  is not his most accessible album, however, having listened to Orchard Thief almost since he was birthed into the music world, this album sounds very much his own, more so than any of its predecessors. Also it feels definitively like a turning point in his musical adventures and, as always with Sam, I eagerly await his next project. I also, eagerly await listening to this album on vinyl I am sure it sounds gorgeous.

-Connor

(Sam and Jesse are dear friends of mine and truly awesome human beings (not just bullshitting, they rule) and they have released this album on vinyl. So if you want some rad music and want to support good dudes shell out some bucks for this fine vyne.)

Editors Note: The awesome album art is done by the always awesome Britta Anderson.