Following a major success with its 2014 album “Disgraceland,” The Orwells has become a mainstay of the indie rock scene. Now the group seeks to make lightning strike twice with its newest feature, “Terrible Human Beings.” With a lucky 13 tracks, the album released not too long ago with a surprisingly minimal amount of promotion. This directly contradicts the release of “Disgraceland,” which was advertised so heavily on sites like YouTube that one might have mistaken the group for a major pop outfit.
This is of course, not the case. The Orwells fits into what might be referred to as “upper mid-tier” indie. It’s not a giant within the scene like some bands, but there’s a good chance that the average indie fan has heard of The Orwells, with a slightly smaller chance that they’ve also listened to the band. Like many other bands within this tier, The Orwells really hasn’t tasted success with more than one or two songs, with its main hits being “Who Needs You” and “Let It Burn.”
In fairness, the group’s sound doesn’t necessarily lend to mass exposure, even within the indie scene. While its modest mix of southern blues and garage rock has given The Orwells a fairly unique sound that doesn’t necessarily contradict the notion of popularity, the quality of its catalog is highly debatable. What the average person thinks of The Orwells largely comes down to how much they enjoy its particular mix of blues and garage rock, which gives off just enough of a hint of southern rock akin to Creedence Clearwater Revival to bear mentioning while also retaining enough of a garage rock identity to isolate the average indie listener. In this sense, it has an appeal to a niche, but not a niche appeal. The group doesn’t plunge headfirst into either subgenre, instead keeping a clean mix. This works both to its favor and detriment in that it doesn’t exclude too much of its potential audience, but also prevents fans of either genre from fully identifying with their sound.
This blend of subgenres hasn’t always been the case for the band either. While “Disgraceland” is probably its most even divide, The Orwells’ first album “Remember When” leaned strongly in favor of blues rock, while “Terrible Human Beings” lands slightly more toward the garage rock side of the spectrum. The shift likely comes as a result of the band’s success with the song “Who Needs You,” a protest against toxic Americanisms and the band’s most pop-rock sounding song to date.
“Terrible Human Beings” as a result is going to be an album that leaves a lot of listeners on the fence. It’s the band’s strongest overall album to date. The highs and lows of “Disgraceland” and “Remember When” go the wayside in favor of a more palatable overall experience. As a result, the album starts out strong, but starts to blur together toward the middle. The tracks can be hard to differentiate from each other, and nothing on the album particularly stands out as a proper single. However, the overall quality of the record is superior to previous attempts, with better mastering, stronger guitar sections and more interesting lyrics.
The unique abilities of The Orwells also stand out more strongly on this album compared to others, highlighting the aspects of its songwriting that you won’t find anywhere. The album’s not bad or boring, but it isn’t necessarily exciting.
In the end, “Terrible Human Beings” feels just above middle of the road. Time will tell if The Orwells will increase or decrease their following as a result of this album. One thing’s for sure however, this is not the type of record that can be easily written off as good or bad. It’s entirely up to the listener to decide for themselves.
