In Conversation With #221 - The Orielles
The Orielles have just released their new album - ‘Tableau’ via Heavenly Recordings.
The album was mostly recorded across Summer 2021 holed away in the Sussex coastal town of Eastbourne. Its recording is a story of experimentation, improvisation and a band discovering how to create an entirely new sonic palette.
They took a moment to talk to us about how the album came together.
Hey there The Orielles - how are you? So your album is out now - how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
It feels great! Gonna be riding the high of this feeling for a long time, so much work and love has gone into the making of this record so it's nice to finally take a step back and let people enjoy.
It is called 'Tableau' - what is the meaning behind that?
It jumped out as a great title for the record after the vocals were written and recorded for the track Darkened Corners which states the line, ‘am I the maker of this tableau?’ Throughout the song, all three of us sing lines pertaining to either the subject, the taker or the viewer of a Lee Friedlander photograph, which I think represents the process of this album's creation. We would give ourselves the conditions for these random moments to happen, capture them in a way that would present a different outcome each time like a photograph, and then look at them objectively to edit elements of them and offer new interpretations.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process you are happy to share with us?
We recorded The Room at Eve Studios (home to our previous two LPs) however the rest was recorded for the most part between two studios; Echo Zoo in Eastbourne and Vada in Alcester, both scouted out to serve different styles of creativity. Echo Zoo we picked mainly for its gear (hoards of synths) and seaside location, which sparked some of the more off the cuff and fun moments such as the track Improvisation 001, in which Joel blindfolded us and told us to step into the live room one by one, picking an instrument we wouldn't conventionally play on an orielles track. We then came up with this track in one take, all possessed by a moment of chance creativity, with Ez on Piano, Hen on fretless bass and Sid on Wurlitzer. Vada had what we needed in terms of space, high ceilings and a big live room (in an old chapel) to, quite paradoxically, create some of the more intimate and emotional moments of the album, filling the space yet somehow feeling closer and more connected to one another.
What are the key themes and influences on the album?
As mentioned before, Lee Friedlander contributed a huge amount of influence to the lyrical content and the conceptualisation of ‘Tableau’. We also created our own kind of manifesto, Goytism, which played a key theme throughout the making of the album, basically relating to the changing of an acoustic sound to something more digital sounding, with a certain randomness involved in the selection of sound or plugin. It helped us to get into the headspace of some of the more electronic influences of the record, involving everyone from Burial to Pauline Oliveros. Bands like To Rococo Rot, The Art of Noise, CAN, Fugazi, all contributed to the sound of this record too.
If the album could be the soundtrack to any film - which one would it be and why?
The lyrics for Transmission follow the narrative of Jean Cocteau’s Orepheus (1950). I feel like that film has an air of hauntology about it that feels quite apt for at least a large chunk of the album. Although the images I'm seeing for the A-side feel more in keeping with Cronenburg’s Crash, more angular and mechanical. And equally there’s sections of the album that could compliment more poetic, textural images like the work of Jonas Mekas.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the album - if so, which one and why?
Aside from Darkened Corners and Transmission, my favorite lyrics from the album are possibly on Some Day Later which works as a sort of prelude to Darkened Corners, with similar themes. The line ‘taking it’s time to find you’ is super simple but I feel like it speaks to this whole record on many different levels. Like a photographer trying to find something or someone through their lens which can be captured only in one moment before it's gone forever. And I think it also speaks of patience, a feeling the three of us know all too well and can sometimes get downbeat by, but the passing of time is mysterious and I truly believe that the lens will find us, someday later.
Now the album is out there - what next?
As with all of our albums, we maintain the idea that even once the album is pressed and in the homes of listeners, it isn’t in its final form necessarily. It still has life to give, ways it can expand and reshape itself (more news on that soon) and of course creating a live show for it enables this to happen as well. We can’t bloody wait for touring it next year, the shows are gonna be super special!
