Once again, the city of York – its music scene eclipsed by the enormity and sprawling eclecticism of the thriving Leeds scene – has thrown something else weird and wonderful from the underground in the form of Orlando Ferguson. Taking the name of a nineteenth century zealot, Orlando Ferguson have unleashed their sonic terror on unsuspecting audiences around the region and produced a staggering seven album-length releases since their foundation in March 2013. ‘Darkness Shall Not Overcome’ and ‘Shine Despite the Darkness’ share obvious thematic links that extent beyond the titles, and be warned, despite the positive connotations of those titles, the sounds contained therein are very dark indeed.
With a manifesto that states ‘Orlando Ferguson exist to channel the spirits latent in every environment’ the enigmatic duo’s recordings are too creepy and difficult to be truly ambient, and the dark rumblings on these two releases – each contains two tracks in the region of half an hour apiece – sit somewhere in the realms of the avant-garde and experimental / drone. Their sound is defined by dank, muffled bassiness and eerily atmospheric overtones.
The minimal vocals – spoken in a dead monotone – are deeply embedded in infinite layers of delay on ‘Counting the Ways’. Disembodied and decontextualised, they disorientate the lister as long, deliberate drones hover for an eternity and slow pulses and resonances create nuanced hints of rhythms that re barely there. When there are recognisable guitar parts, with strummed chords or picked notes instead of wefts of soft feedback and mains hum, they’re fleeting and so, so haunting.
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‘Hands Held High’ is built around a single, looping guitar motif that drifts into the mists of time to transcendental effect.
Ominously dark and deeply unsettling are two phrases that swiftly spring to mind while in the midst of this murky whorl of noise. It’s music that creeps into every corner of the psyche like smoke in the cerebellum. At times both disturbed and disturbing, Orlando Ferguson make music that reaches in and slowly works its way around the listener’s innermost being. It gets under your skin and is at once uncomfortable and compelling.
Orlando Ferguson Online
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