Contradictory though it may seem, subtlety is the dominating theme in Orion’s contribution to Ball of Wax Volume 69. This edition is built upon duos, but you could almost imagine a solitary figure in a bedsit with a synth and a guitar for the first third of the track.
If this whole song were composed simply of that softly tremulous guitar and the space it gathers between each rising and falling lick, it would still be a winner. Something so diaphanous deserves a place on any compilation, any album, any EP. But Orion are not here just to lull you—they’re here to tickle some cilia and test some sensitivity.
And so it is that a smooth bass tone comes into play just before a gorgeous and gorgeously-reverberating vocal cries out from the depths of a place far beyond or below that bedsit. I’m already fully committed to this one, and THEN Orion slip in a percolating rhythm track that, combined with everything else, still somehow feels somnambulant.
I don’t mean sleepy so much as soothing. All of this feels like it’s happening inside my head, rather than my headphones. Even the fine drum track that kicks things up to speed doesn’t oppress the overall mood. If anything, its hardlined hits and syncopated snares add to the dreaminess.
Orion shows that they know what they’re doing with “In the Wind” when they fade everything else away for an ambient outro that plays with a mic left on the floor for some distorted and ghostly effects, before seeing us out with what is certainly meant as a cue tone signaling that all you’ve just experienced was a dream.
Love this track! It’s a gorgeous mix of energetic and calming. Definitely worth listening over headphones to catch the tracking and all the little details.