The Orfanage
I first heard The Orfanage when Benjamin emailed me a demo of ‘You are everything’. The song is, I think, a good indicator of what to expect from their debut, Songs For David William: warm, wistful, and slightly unhinged. Vocals blend seamlessly with minimalist swells of acoustic guitars, and the occasional splash of noise. The duo are exceptional songwriters, balancing just a touch of angst with a far more dreamy and detatched lyrical tone, in some way reminiscent of Team Sleep.
They manage to accomplish rather a dark and even heavy sound within such restrained arrangements, and the songs are testament to the fact that less truly is more, although I should also credit the fact that the wonderful juxtaposition provided by two voices gives the record a real edge. The modestly lo-fi recording, combined with the stripped-down approach to both songwriting and performance, means that listening through your headphones is almost as good as having the actual musicians in the room with you. The Orfanage have acheived something tangible, something that reaches the listener, in a way that many larger bands, who spend millions in the process, never manage to acheive.
Benjamin kindly emailed me high-quality mp3s of the entire album. I’m sure if you ask him nicely, he will do the same for you. I am eagerly anticipating further releases from his other projects (of which there are several, each as hard to pin down as the next); I recommend checking out his website to see if you can glean some more information (and maybe a couple of demos).
find The Orfanage on muxtape and myspace.
i resent the part where you tell people to use me.
i resent the part where my ‘other projects’ aren’t as interesting as benjamin’s.
i am joking.
haha… please, enlighten me as to these other projects and I promise to be interested!
[...] is a development in the solo work of Benjamin Will (also of The Orfanage), a multi-faceted young Canadian artist who sets the standard for bedroom musicians worldwide. [...]