FIELDS AND WAVES

.O.rang are Lee Harris and Paul Webb, formerly drummer and bassist of the legendary Talk Talk, although here they play many instruments; besides the drums Harris plays the bass as often as Webb (and guest Simon Edwards), both do guitars and vocals, and add instruments like accordeon, Thai mouth organ and digeridoo, and on top of that they used many guests (among them a Balalaika player). Fields and Waves is their second and unfortunately up to this day (2019) last album. Their first album "Herd of Instinct" had been absolutely addictive and I gave it 5 stars. Fields and Waves is a good and interesting album, but not quite at that level.

Many of the good elements of Herd of Instinct appear again here, particularly Harris' ethno-influenced sharp and groovy drums and percussion, and the rich jungle-like web of sounds, mostly supporting the rhythms, running through most tracks, made up by mostly warm and breathing sounds as known from Talk Talk (and as expected from the list of instruments), but with some more electronic nuances thrown in. All the tracks are strongly rhythmically oriented, sometimes driven by percussion but a few calmer ones by african-inspired rhythmic guitar licks. There is a good amount of variation between the faster driving numbers and some calmer almost meditative but still pulsating material. Some tracks have strong dynamics building up to a climax or winding down somewhere in the middle to get going again, whereas a few run through at pretty much the same level of intensity. Fields and Waves features 12 tracks against Herd of Instinct's 7, but it is also longer, so one cannot really say that there would be a clear tendency toward shorter tracks. There are four 7+ minutes tracks, although the peak lengths of Herd of Instinct are not reached, and Field and Waves is rather after a variety of ideas, given that as before the tracks on their own are quite homogeneous.

The reasons why this album is not quite as appealing to me as the debut are 1) a few parts seem rather like unfinished sketches (although that's the minority), 2) the variety, while generally welcome, makes it somewhat more difficult to really dive into the hypnotic mood evoked by the rhythms, and 3) rather than only using vocals rather as further instruments as in "Herd" (and here on a few tracks), there are also some attempts at more song-like singing, and in this respect Harris and Webb clearly lack the vocal qualities and song writing skills of their former band leader Mark Hollis. Beth Gibbons of Portishead, with whom Harris and Webb would later record as "Rustin Man" has a very welcome guest vocal appearance on "Jalap".

That said, all these are rather minor criticisms. Overall Fields and Waves is another fascinating, pulsating, atmospheric and innovative piece of music that I recommend full-heartedly. 3.9 stars.