OFFICIAL: https://skyorchid.net/
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Written
by Jason Hillenburg, posted by blog admin
Debut
albums aren’t often this long in the making. The gestation and evolution of Sky
Orchid, essentially a duo featuring brothers Gabriel and Daniel Traknyak, resulted
in seven year process beginning in the brothers’ garage with early incarnations
of the band. The initial leg of their creative journey ends here with the
release of Oculus, a ten song collection announcing the Traknyaks as one of the
more potentially formidable musical units emerging from the indie scene today.
Some of these songs are years old while the brothers worked up new material
during the album’s recording sessions. Despite the disparate births of these
songs, the collection has an overall coherence and has a potent organic sound.
Gabriel
Traknyak has an appealing voice. It blends smoky tones with soulful emotiveness
quite unlike anyone else working in this style today. The album opener “The
River” gives him an early turn in the spotlight as he, initially, carries the
song single-handedly with minimum musical accompaniment. The brothers prove
themselves to be rather adept at orchestration – “The River” builds in a
dramatic way, centered on piano, without ever straining for effect. The opener
is one of those recent songs the brothers pair with older material and the
album’s second song, “Sneakers”, is as well. The pensive songwriting spirit
pervading the first track comes across nicely with this track, but the
performance is much more straight-forward than we heard with the album’s kick
off number. Gabriel Traknyak excels once again vocally and the arrangement
intersperses its meditative cool with occasional flashes of cacophonous musical
firepower. Daniel Traknyak lays down some especially memorable drums for this
one.
“Wildfire”
is an unusually distinctive track thanks to its muted acoustic beginnings and a
keyboard rich final quarter. The acoustic guitar work isn’t particularly
flashy, thankfully, and effectively counterpoints Gabriel Traknyak’s voice
without being obscured. “I’ll Stop the World (Part 2)” has a propulsive rock
pulse powered by Daniel Traknyak’s drumming opening the number before reining
it in for far more spartan verses. The vocal melody stands out for its
idiosyncratic qualities and Gabriel Traknyak’s vocal versatility comes through in
a very accessible way. The guitar work in a song like this differs from typical
rock songs insofar as it has a much more orchestral slant – there’s no guitar
hero theatrics or lead breaks. Instead, it’s another color in a spectrum of
shades the duo adeptly incorporates into the larger whole.
The
album’s oldest song, “Breathe Easy”, name checks Bob Marley and, indeed, the
track comes off like a loving, playful reggae pastiche, but never wearies
listeners. Brief bursts of distorted guitar lurk beneath the surface of the mix
and Daniel Traknyak’s drumming shines once again. The song’s conclusion may
throw some listeners for a loop as the duo all but abandons the reggae
posturing for improbable six string shredding and a nearly hard rock finale.
The emphasis on guitar continues with the album’s final song “Fortify”, but it’s
less incongruous than what we experienced with “Breathe Easy”. Instead, it’s
another reminder of the duo’s talent for exploring dynamics in their
songwriting and the restraint shown during many of the songs verses juxtaposes
dramatically against Gabriel Traknyak’s fiery guitar playing. Oculus is a
powerful debut and Sky Orchid’s willingness to utilize the full range of their
talents promises future releases will only build on the immense promise heard
here.
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