Album Review

Some Kind of Feeling

by

Orianthi

Guitarists albums can be tricky things to get right. As a vehicle for a guitar player to showcase their six-string skills, good song-writing can too often be sacrificed on the altar of technical dexterity. However, with the release of her fifth album “Some Kind of Feeling”, Australian guitar virtuoso Orianthi, shows that not only is she a phenomenal exponent of the guitar, but that she can turn her hand to a wide range of genres, with stunning results regardless of style. And whilst, the name Orianthi might not be widely recognised in the mainstream, this album could – and should be – be the one that changes all that. The antipodean guitar heroine has a CV as long as your arm, having worked and collaborated with the likes of Santana, Alice Cooper, Dave Stewart and Michael Jackson to name but a few and that openness to different styles serves her well here. From pop-rock to forays into almost country territory, to heavier bluesier numbers, the quality across the ten tracks of this album never drops for a second.

Attention kicks the album off at a hot pace with a rhythmic crunchy guitar before Orianthi’s silky, sultry soulful vocals fill the airwaves, narrating about an ex-lovers insistence of sending drunken texts in an attempt for attention and to rile up her passions and emotions, which are firmly vetoed with the line ‘I’m done thinking about you’ As you’d expect, the solo is a thing of beauty, a blaze of notes being dispatched from the fretboard with feel and fire like a Catherine wheel, the songwriting, composition and musical execution sparkling with a sprinkling of that Orianthi magic dust. The title track meanwhile hops and bops along on a jaunty riff, underpinned by a dazzling Hammond-esque keyboard, Orianthi’s vocals soulful and engaging, her talent for drawing the listener into her world, evident across not just this track but the whole album. “Some Kind of Feeling” is a very personal album, allowing Orianthi to chronicle and show her feelings through the exquisite lyrics in these songs, capturing everything that she’s been through in the past to where she is today. And she shows she’s not afraid to bare her soul, on Ghost, Call You Mine and the stunning What I’ve Been Looking For plucking at both the heart strings as devastatingly as she does the guitar strings. There’s a personal, poignant depth in these tracks that speaks of genuine heartache and pain, her solos crying that pain to the heavens, taking you to the depths of despair and back up to those exquisite highs. It’s brave and wonderful and quite, quite beautiful. But it’s not all heartbreakers and introspection, no, things take a turn for the rockier with the darkly propulsive Dark Days Are Gone, sandwiched between the bruising, primal Bad for Each Other and the masterclass First Time Blues where she goes toe-to-toe with the legendary Joe Bonamassa.

Orianthi produced three of tracks (First Time Blues, Ghost & Bad For Each Other) the remaining seven tracks having been produced by the legendary Kevin ‘The Caveman’ Shirley who has worked his wizardly magic over the songs. As a whole “Some Kind of Feeling” is a superb album from which quality shines from every pore – there’s something here for every mood and taste. The production is warm and crisp, the guitars are dynamic and gorgeous, each solo perfectly judged and never out staying its welcome, the song-writing expertly balanced and delivered with heart and panache. Out now on digital platforms and on CD and Vinyl in August and September, “Some Kind of Feeling” deserves to be lauded from on high – and when Orianthi makes her way to these shores early next year for a run of UK dates, you really need to catch one of her shows as if the songs are this good in their recorded format, in the live arena they’re going to be absolutely mind-blowing…

The album is released digitally by Woodward Avenue Records on Friday June 27th, followed by the CD on August 15th, and vinyl on September 19th.

Orianthi’s music video for her “Attention” single via YouTube HERE

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