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Band: Red Orchid

CD Title: “Sky is Falling”

Band Website: www.redorchidbloom.com   

Label: Independent Release

Release Date: 2009

 

Red Orchid is the brainchild of founder Sanmeet Sidhu and Sky is Falling is the first on-line CD release. Based in the Washington DC area, Red Orchid’s music is a blend of eighties era symphonic progressive rock with some really cool cultural influences such as Sitar and Tabla all of which makes the music on Sky is Falling worthy of some attention. The band is made up of Sidhu (vocals, guitar, synth, piano, sitar, flute), Tom Dupree (drums), Steven X (bass, backing vocals) and guests artists: Parth Sen (Tabla on "Far from home", "Silence Within") and Rick Stu (Piano on "Silence Within").

 

The music on Sky is Falling is a contrast of softer melodic songs with harder edged guitar accents presented in a style not unfamiliar to fans of Porcupine Tree and its evident right off the top with “Revive” [7:40]. The track goes through a variety of changes in arrangement, with the music building in intensity and then subsiding. There is a distinct melancholy feel, a kind of longing in the lyrics and vocal style that actually runs through all seven compositions. Guitar solos are restrained and play to the service of the composition rather than grandstand. Things pick up substantially in tone and tempo for the track “Walking in the Sky” [6:25] a more straight forward rock track but then revert back to a little more complexity with the title track “Sky is Falling” [7:59] the longest of the bunch. The intro features some interesting guitar and buzzing synth interplay which then goes into the song’s opening segment. At the three-minute mark it’s all change as things go more acoustic guitar and piano and then some synth strings. This tone proceeds to build in intensity for the much of the rest of the track, which then ends with moody piano and wind-sounds expressing a poignant and lonely feeling. A couple of the other tracks even display a kind of Dire Straights with Sitar sound that’s quite intriguing.

 

Sky is Falling may be a little rough around the edges, but there’s no question its a work of passion. The forty minutes of music here may not be the most complex music you’ll hear but it truly is a work of heart and I think has much to offer. This being the first musical collection for Red Orchid I look forward to the band’s development and future offerings. Those interested should check out the band’s website for some samples and a pretty reasonable price for downloading the album.

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