As I mentioned in the last post on Nordic Music Review, it wasnt easy getting back into the routine of writing reviews. Listening to new music is great fun, trying to think of something interesting and relevant to say about it, well that’s more tricky – we struggle at the best of times. But listening to the new Mani Orrason album which came out whilst were on holiday, actually made things a lot easier, because its such a straight forward, down to earth, well written and likeable album, with good tunes and thoughtful lyrics.
For those of you that don’t know Mani Orrason, and we have mentioned him a few times before, he was born in Reykjavik in December 1997, which I’m pretty sure still makes him just 17 years old. The 7th of 10 brothers and sisters, he’s lived most of his life in Spain, in a musical home experimenting and playing different instruments. ‘Repeating Patterns’ is Manis debut album, it demonstrates his huge musical talents and his personality, but at the same it would be fair to say that the album still shows that hes continuing to experiment with ideas and establish his true preferred style.
Just to highlight a few of the tracks, the album opens with ‘Fed all my Days’, acoustic guitar and Manis distinct vocals, always with a melody and it’s a likeable country folk influenced track, which I’ve happily played a good few times in the last week. The lyrics are thoughtful, without being overly pretentious – ‘Some days I feel I just wanna escape, I feel sick of humanity and scared of my own fate’. ‘Walls Keep Caving In’ is a different style, rockier, with a straight forward guitar riff, but he pulls it off really effectively, and its another undoubtedly strong track.
I really like ‘Miracle Due’, a pre-album single, its just such a really well constructed pop song, with a catchy tune and ‘Working Title’ is probably my (current) album favourite, with a brilliant jaunty theme . I also really like the simple but effective idea behind ‘Repeating Patterns’ – getting drunk on Fridays, just because that’s what everyone does.
Mani Orrason has produced a lovely album in ‘Repeating Patterns’, with a real mix of tracks that have few weaknesses. I maybe have a preference towards the upbeat well written pop tracks such as ‘Working Title’, but in tracks such as ‘Why are you Sat Alone’ he’s able to demonstrate a thoughtful, delicate songwriting style, and ‘Regenerate – Forgive – Find Peace’ has become a real favourite in recent days .
Its probably stating the obvious that this album demonstrates a maturity of songwriting well beyond anyone whos just 17 years of age. And the exciting thing is that Manis songwriting style will no doubt develop and mature, and we’ll really look forward to future releases, to see what direction he’s gone in. In the meantime check out ‘Repeating Patterns’, its available on Itunes (and Spotify) right now.
Nordic Music Review 8/10