Frankel : Lullaby for the Passerby

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/frankellullabyforthepasserby.jpg" alt=" " />As Frankel, multi-instrumentalist Michael Orendy played every instrument, ‘from Theremin to Twirly Whirly’, on his debut LP and delivered an album that's surprisingly varied, though...
7.5 Red Rockets Glare
2007 

 As Frankel, multi-instrumentalist Michael Orendy played every instrument, ‘from Theremin to Twirly Whirly’, on his debut LP and delivered an album that’s surprisingly varied, though at times perhaps a bit too varied. The Los Angeles native goes from burlesque bop to melodic atmosphere to high-and-wry to simple-tech techno on the record, and many places in between.  There are several flashes of brilliance on Lullaby for the Passerby, and some less-than-memorable tracks, and that makes Orendy’s debut release something of a grab-bag, but it’s still worth grabbing the whole bag.

In general, Orendy is better when he shows his funnier side, whether upbeat or down.  The best display of this has to be Lullaby’s two catchy saloon-dance numbers, the sloshingly indie-country leadoff track, “Thermostat”, and the hips-shaking, lo-fi “Red Part of Town” (probably the best track on the album).  Orendy keeps the same mood in the high and sweet “Previous Life” (which is about being a signpost in a past life), but doesn’t have to stay smiling to deliver smiles, such as with finisher “Becoming You”, high but world-weary in its irony.  The dance hall of “Thermostat” and “Red Part of Town” can also be slowed up, and still stay great thanks to a knowing nature, as in “New Authority”.

When Orendy tries to get more ‘modern’, however, he loses some of his hook.  The melody-meets-post-rock of “Tooth Decay” and uplifting expanse of “X Marks the Spot” are both nice, but struggle to be more than that.  Lullaby bridges from the post-rock of those two early tracks to the techno later with the in-between “Found Out”, whose unhurried atmosphere goes on a little too long.  The slow techno of semi-title-track “Lullaby” gets bigger and better at its end, though a bit too late, while the upbeat dance-techno of the following “Curtain Calls” is neat, with its great chorus and pianos, but lacks consistency.

As Frankel, Michael Orendy stretches not just across genres, but eras, from nineteenth-century dance halls to twenty-first-century dance clubs.  While his present-day sounds on Lullaby for the Passerby are good, it is his old-fashioned fun that really works best.  It’s impressive that a debut record made entirely by one mind and one pair of hands could show such range, almost too much of a good thing, but there’s more than enough here to point the way forward.

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