SOLAR GAMBLING

At this point in ORL's discography there's definitely a sense of iteration in his work opposed to the more drastic shifts in mood and style that were a prominent aspect to his approach just a couple of years further back, instead taking an idea and running with it over the course of multiple works, slowly improving and refining it until we get Solar Gambling, which feels like the peak of it. The big difference with the take on the colourful, psychedelic Latin rock shown here compared to the previous attempts is the way that it blends in a few more pop and art rock sensibilities into the fray, having longer stretches dedicated to really exploring the more melodic aspects of his sound, once again amplified by the inclusion of Ximena's vocals. While not quite as surreal nor intense as a lot of his other stuff, I'd also say that this is one of his strongest displays of songwriting up to this point, feeling as if there's just not a moment wasted, with even the more experimental, droney cuts here adding to the experience as a whole rather than acting as weird little diversions. One of his best solo albums that also proved that Omar wasn't just building his appeal and approach off a sense of spontaneity , but that he was also extremely capable of crafting something great simply from refining what was already there.