Port Orchards - River Songs

Washington DC's own Port Orchards return with their all new studio release titled River Songs. The follow up to the recently released Luna Grande finds the collective building upon the buzz of their last release, and maintaining their ambient melodies and delicate lyrics to create a simple structured album that has a completely unfiltered quality to it.

We start things off with "The Ghost That You Died To Be", a steady and breezy rocker that features a terrific guitar melody that melds in wonderfully with the lightly tuned percussion arrangements that make this track easily enjoyable. "I Want Everything" is another toned down tune that features many of the same musical characteristics as the prior track, but with a more prominent guitar track to give the listener a little bit more variety in the process. "Togetherness" is an upbeat, bombastic track that features wildly inventive melodies that immediately put you in a positive frame of mind with its colorful vocals adding a bit more dexterity to an well received album so far. My favorite track off the album is "Back On The Beam", a truly beautiful track that strikes a perfect harmony between the instrumentation that is deeply intertwined within the lyrics that provide for a strong boost as you enjoy the rest of the day in front of you.

The second half of the disc features "Roomsitter" a midtempo, enjoyable track that features terrific vocal syncopation that shows the harmonizing between the members of the group and the connection that all the members of the group feel when playing together. We begin to wrap things up with "The King of Putt" a melancholy, relaxing rocker that features neatly arranged instrumentation and a positive outlook ahead as we forge towards the conclusion of the album. "Your Favorite Song" ends things here with an encapsulated tune that brings in all the musical elements we've heard in succession one after another on the album, and gives us an overview of sorts as we look back on everything we've listened to and how we got to this point. One thing that I enjoy about these guys is their overall simplicity when creating music, and making everything seem beautiful and pristine as you listen to their songs and it really makes you appreciate the time and energy that they expunged on this album to create something that they knew from the get go people would appreciate greatly upon first listen.

In summary, a terrific and well executed second effort here from Port Orchards, who have made an album that is on par with their debut, and gives us a peek inside as to how these songs are conceived in the first place and the time and energy spent creating them.

                                                                                                                                Album Score: 4/5

Track Listing:

1. The Ghost That You Died To Be
2. I Want Everything
3. Sunday Bed Love Song
4. Togetherness
5. Back on the Beam
6. New Acropolis
7. Roomsitter
8. Lilt
9. The King of Putt
10. Your Favorite Song