Galsses Records

‘Smiling Over Orange City’ was released on August 23, 2019.

A while back I heard the song “Hey Wait” on my Discover Weekly. Considering how much I appreciated the song, I figured the EP it belonged to,  Smiling Over Orange City, would be the perfect thing to get me out of the musical rut I was in. While there is value in the instrumental side of these songs, they lack lyrical originality, ultimately keeping their creative sound from making an impact.

The EP makes an attempt at telling a story that could have been covered in one song, so when it’s stretched across six different tracks, that interconnected plot feels redundant. The lyrics are supposed to work together with the rest of the song to elevate the experience, but in this case, the story feels more like a burden.

All six songs tell the same story, one of a relationship where one party isn’t satisfied. The details get washed around but the bones stay the same, which forces the same tone onto all of the songs even as the instrumentals change. This type of storytelling undermines the rest of the song, regardless of how much effort was put into it.

That’s not to say that the whole thing was ruined. The cover art is creative, while still fitting the songs. The instrumentals work to make the experience of each track somewhat unique despite the monotonous plot. This EP does do a lot of things right, but it just can’t make up for the lackluster lyrics.

While there are redeeming features of this EP, the repetitive story holds it back, earning a six out of ten for me, but seeing as it is only 24 minutes in length, I encourage readers to give it a listen and form an opinion for themselves.