Look at the above image. This isn’t one of those random pics I sometime grab from Google Image Search when I can’t get anything else. The band Orland feature this image on their MySpace. It sums the group up perfectly.
Which, OK, might seem a little to simple. Yes this is keyboard-heavy music, so a picture of the band playing said instruments would do a good job of that right? Orland make gooey, new-wave-ish music that is certainly trendy right now…Japanese bands like The Brixton Academy and Dorian. Yet the key to Orland not just being another trendy slab of 80s-aping synth pop can also be seen in that photo I’ve chosen to make the hook of this blurb…the disco ball. Whereas those other two bands, plenty capable of getting a person to groove out, lean towards pop, Orland are making unabashed dance music. Peep the ridiculously funked-out thrust of “Contract On Love,” for one. Newer song “Yau” isn’t quite as funky, but does manage to be just as colorful and bopping. Appropriately enough, Orland will be taking part in The Brixton Academy’s new EP release party this weekend in Shibuya, so if you live around there you should check them out. And tell ’em that’s a solid picture up there.