Orbé Orbé is the newest project led by New Yorker-turned-Seattleite Cristina Orbé. The Kickstarter gods have been gracious in allowing for the release of their debut LP, Invisible Kingdoms. An ambitious but easily relatable piece, the album is defined by Orbé’s very personal lyrics sung through her powerful, jazzy voice, all laid over instrumentation that is both catchy and genre bending. Featuring heavy electronic production alongside roaring guitars that utilize a variety of effects, this record is ultimately a rich fusion of multiple modern music scenes.
Hard and rapid drums are frequent on the album, and a clear electronic dance inspiration pulsates at the heart of the music. “Wait” opens with glitched-out electro noises and vocals from a talkbox. “Escape,” my personal favorite, builds up to a passionately energetic climax and runs with an almost breakbeat rhythm, while fuzzy guitar chords give the song warmth.
Some influences come out of left field. For example, “Circus Star” very fittingly sounds like quintessential circus or carnival music; it would fit in perfectly with trying to throw a ping-pong ball into a goldfish bowl.
It was not long ago that I was in middle school, being told that the United States is a “melting pot” of cultures. A melting pot is probably the best way to describe Invisible Kingdoms, because it really is just a nice, eclectic stew. It is also fun, and it gets your feet thumping, which is really all one can ask for when, as stated in “Winner,” the closing track, “life is one long winter.”
In A Word: Pleasing
