REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY FAITH LUEVANOS ☆
SAN ANTONIO-BASED DUO ORCA RETURNS WITH THEIR NEW EP SHED—out everywhere now. Like a pod of orca whales, lead vocalist Mylena Velasquez and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Galloway come together to create a sound that feels like flowing through a body of water. The duo has quickly been on the rise, recently coming off the North American leg of Love Spell’s LOVE IS THE LAW tour, finding a place in audiences’ hearts every night.
Growing up in Texas shaped the way that the duo approaches their music, but it also inspired the desire for a place outside of their hometown, specifically the Pacific Northwest, a place that the pair naturally gravitates toward sonically. The gentle breeze on the water, towering evergreen forests and rugged coastlines have felt like a second home for the band, a place they can daydream about from hundreds of miles away. This daydream translates beautifully into their new EP, shed. Produced in collaboration with indie pioneer Hether, Orca reaches a new level of softness and gentle yearning.
The seven-track EP opens with “Tillamook,” a gradually upbeat song that introduces listeners to the world of shed. It has a playful nature to it that reminds me of running through a meadow, content in the isolation and freedom of the open air. The track is followed by their recent single release, “Missing the subway,” the third offering from the band to introduce the EP. As the project flows through other recent releases like “skin&skin” and “Dove,” we reach the title track, “Shed.” Easily my favorite song on the EP, “Shed” features lyrics so blindingly vulnerable that hearing the words “Sometimes I feel like I’m waiting for something that I’ll never have, did you love me back?” made me do a double take and rewind to make sure I heard it right. Introspective, honest and delicate, the EP closes with “Gloss” and “Loverlust,” two songs that go hand-in-hand and are the perfect neatly-tied bow on the gift that is shed.
shed is an EP for dreamers, for people who wear their heart on their sleeve so often that it leaves them out in the open sometimes, for people who are filled with an abundance of love that just want to share it with other people, to love and to be in love. shed will open so many new doors for Orca, and this is your official sign, from The Luna Collective, to keep Orca on your radar.
