Adrian Orange

It's intriguing to watch a lo-fi artist step out from behind their acoustic guitar and take the stage as a big-band leader. In the case of Adrian Orange & Her Band (note: Adrian Orange is a guy) it's an absolutely odd mismatch, like when Dude of Life made an album with Phish on Crimes of the Mind and the songs were strangled by off-kilter and anxious vocals, desperately seeking for suitable notes and blundering past time and time again. It's a bit like that, or listening to a prepubescent David Byrne in his very first vocal lesson. Some artists have been able to make a similar transition to a big setting comfortably, relying on their presence and charm to carry them through: Ween recorded 12 Golden Country Greats with the virtuosic Shit Creek Boys and Beck upped the ante with a soulful horn section on "Debra," but Orange's vocal style is still undeveloped enough that it relies on having that raw instrumentation as a backdrop, or else it clashes with its environment. The band, which features 17 members and an intricate horn section, has a loose, rootsy, ska feel reminiscent of the Slackers, and bridges the gap between moody, slow numbers like "Fire Dream" and upbeat, rhythmic jams like "Window." The music fits the song ideas well, but when a band is as technically polished as this one, if there is a weak link, they stick out like a hand model's broken pinky and Adrian Orange plays the role of that finger. It's too bad that the vocals are so distracting, because the lyrical content and music are conceptually strong and the album is a truly interesting experiment, but it just feels like a really odd mismatch -- as if Bill Callahan fronted the Squirrel Nut Zippers. It's admirable that someone so young in his career would try something as gutsy as this, but he has a lot of growing to do yet as a vocalist before he can pull off a move like this one. ~ Jason Lymangrover, All Music Guide