Album Review: The Orielles - 'Tableu'
The Orielles state their case for a Mercury Prize nomination with their experimental opus and career defining new album 'Tableu'.
Early trailblazers of the Post-Punk revival, The Orielles first burst onto the scene in back early 2018 with the release of their debut record 'Silver Dollar Moment'. Critically acclaimed and championed by industry tastemakers, the record thrust the band into the spotlight and onto the bills of festivals up and down the country. On the road they honed their skills and quickly became revered as one of the best emerging acts within the UK scene. Fast-forward a couple of years and Esme, Sidonie and Henry had well and truly cemented their reputation with the release of their intergalactic sophomore record 'Disco Volodor' and a UK tour culminating in a performance at the two-thousand capacity O2 institute in Birmingham, a far cry from their early shows at The Trades Club in Hebden Bridge. Now, with the release of 'Tableau' the band break new ground to transcend their previous achievements and realise the full extent of their creative potential.
Sprawling in it's scale and spellbinding in it's sonic dexterity, 'Tableau' sees The Orielles build further on the foundations laid during the production of their pandemic passion project, a short film and accompanying soundtrack by the name of 'La Vita Olistica'. The start of a distinct transition, here the band began to move away from the disco infused Post-Punk that had defined much of their work to date. Instead, they began to experiment with ambient soundscapes and further expand their creative influences. Vignettes such as 'Space Slumber', taken from the LVO soundtrack were an early expression of the band's experiments with the avant-garde and on their new record they have allowed these initial seeds of inspiration to grow into something much more awe inspiring. Tracks such as 'The Improvisation 001', clocking in at an impressive eight minutes and forty eight seconds, are the realisation of The Orielles creative evolution and see the band weave an ethereal web of sound, punctuated by orchestral flecks, jazz undertones and interlaced with Lead Singer Esme Dee Hand-Halford's haunting vocal performance.
Elsewhere on the new record The Orielles wear their influences on their sleeve more than ever before, cuts like "Chromo II" and "Airtight" are seemingly clear nods to the likes of Stereolab and Burial respectively however, it is in the coalescence of these influences that the band's new record really comes into it's own. Lead single "Beam/s" sees the amalgamation of their inspirations, as they chop and change tempo throughout the mammoth track and inject it with grandiose string sections, intergalactic electronica and otherworldly autotuned vocal sounds to create a sprawling soundscape that is impossible to pigeonhole.
Trying to articulate the depth and breadth of 'Tableau' is an almost impossible task. A project as ambitious, rich and far-reaching as this almost transcends the capacity of the written word and can only be appreciated by truly immersing yourself within the record, appreciating it's layers as they slowly reveal themselves to you. With their new album, The Orielles have created the perfect distillation of beauty and a genuinely modern record that deserves to be recognised at the highest levels. A potential Mercury Prize Nominee? As one of the best records and the most courageous creative leaps of the year, it would be nothing more than a travesty if they were overlooked.
Words by Jordan Corrigan
