Orlando Weeks is best known as the lead singer and one of the founders of London rock band The Maccabees. The Maccabees released their first album in 2007, and went on to become a household name. The success of their four albums continued to grow, and their split after a farewell tour in 2017 left fans in disarray. The former frontman launched his solo career in 2020 with his first opus under his own name, ‘A Quickening’, which met with a well-deserved response. Including the soundtrack to 2017’s The Gritterman, Loja is his fourth recording.
With his consummate art of the crescendo, Orlando Weeks delivers a collection of little pop diamonds that, like multi-faceted gems, combine obvious grace with rich density. The singer’s voice, central to the record’s identity, is always meditative or haunting, the fullness being provided by the instrumentation, particularly the rhythm section, which is hypnotic without ever being too fast. The other instruments melt into layers of sound that permeate every space and, above all, the listener’s mind. Featuring a number of contributions, this is an album whose music is emotionally charged.
It’s hard to talk about anything other than sound textures, so much so that listening to this music seems to materialise the flow of a river whose rough bed is revealed by its slight eddies. If you listen carefully, you get the impression that you can make out the takes of each sound track and how they are arranged, without the harmony of the whole being compromised. This is an album where you hear a lot of acoustic instruments but which also owes a lot to electronics, including in its form. Without attempting to do so, Orlando Weeks responds to those who wonder what poetry could sound like if it were only music.
