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TICKETS

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CREDITS

Lyrics and music by Phil Orr
Instrumentation and performance by PJ Orr (Phil Orr, Nando Durango, Dave Loney)
Keyboards by Tim Kevin
Initial tracks recorded live to 8 track tape at Tempe River Studio’s in Sydney / Gadigal
Recorded by Tim Kevin, Produced by Phil Orr and Tim Kevin

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PRESS

“There is a delightful merge of the pop cadences of Crowded House, the passion of Paul Kelly, a swinging sixties paisley-soaked psychedelic blush and more fizz and sparkle than a shaken bottle of soda. Antipodean to its very Blundstones.” Backseat Mafia on ‘Guns n’ Money’

“Reverberations like a Southern American band teetering on the edge of psych and a south coast Australian band peering over the rocks to the low surf. Somehow it feels like a city/country melange, as if nature is impinging on an aesthetic that isn’t resisting but is still finding its balance in this new environment.” Bernard Zuel

“New single ‘Tightrope Walker’ from Sydney band PJ Orr and finds them weaving their way through some sweet pastoral Americana and indie rock that brings to mind the gentle chug of bands such as The War On Drugs and Kurt Vile.” Post To Wire

“Beautiful contemporary singer-songwriter guitar pop with jagged-edged, jangled, incidental riffs grabbing the attention throughout… another winner from the always reliable Misra Records label.” Janglepophub

“Adding a layer of Tom Petty’s country wit to Australian guitars, it’s a dusty beaut. Gentle waves lap at its shores, but under the surface there’s a glint of teeth.” The Underground Stage

“PJ Orr are unashamedly Australian: the undisguised vocal twang, the raw lyrical exposition and a jingle jangly sound that have defined bands from The Triffids, The Go-Betweens through to more recent examples like Key Out, RVG and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever.” Backseat Mafia

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Sydney’s PJ Orr release the third single from their forthcoming third album Wake Me When I’m Thirsty (preview link below), set for release on October 25th and launching at the Petersham Bowling Club in Sydney on November 1st.

From 70’s imbued country-tinged psychedelia, through to soulful indie rock, Sydney/Gadigal based band PJ Orr covers broad ground. Rooted in melody, PJ Orr (based around singer and songwriter Phil Orr – previously of Sydney psych rock band Hailer, bassist Fernando Durango and drummer David Loney) melds contemporary guitar pop-rock with clever arrangements, hypnotic rhythms and thought-provoking lyricism to bring audiences music that is simultaneously fresh yet familiar.

Whilst the influences of Americana are proudly worn, the undisguised vocal twang, raw lyrical wit, singing and instrumentation are unashamedly Australian. Influences such as Neil Young, The War On Drugs, The Kinks, Kurt Vile, Rose City Band, Blitzen Trapper and The Grateful Dead can be heard alongside The Triffids, Paul Kelly, RVG, and The Go-Betweens.

The third single from the band’s new album Wake Me When I’m Thirsty is ‘Footsteps’, where jangly, chiming indie rock guitars and soaring vocal melodies combine on a catchy meditation on romance. A perfectly blend of pop and psychedelia. “The infinite possibilities that can lead two humans to connect through the most unlikely circumstances,” say Phil Orr. “To quote Dr Peter Venkman – ‘Call it fate – call it karma’.”

Combined with the previous singles, ‘Footstep’ completes the picture of the dynamic range and sonic expanse that PJ Orr cover in their music. The first single ‘Guns n’ Money’ is a song that choogles, chops and pulses like Rose City Band/Wooden Shjips and Grateful Dead filtered through a pastoral jangle pop lens, while its followup ‘Bread’, with its rolling, funk-infused groove, was described by Paul Gough of Chimes on 2SER as “music that has a bit of jangle but is deeply rooted in country-tinged psychedelia.” The song was accompanied by a brilliant and inventive VIDEO of the kind you may have marvelled at in the 90s on late night TV.

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WAKE ME WHEN I’M THIRSTY

For Phil Orr, this album – and the songwriting that led to it – was in hindsight a post burn-out and re-birth of creativity. “After a stage of feeling somewhat stuck, struggling with songs and forcing things for no good reason, I spent time focusing more on learning, taking lessons and playing music that was about as far from “my world” as possible,” he explains. 

As a result, by accident and without duress, ideas came to Orr and both the music and words felt unburdened and free. “Maybe things need to die a little before they can regain some vitality?” he muses.

The resulting collection of songs is testament to the “letting go” and more expansive approach to both the writing and recording of the album. The lion’s share of the songs were written over the course of 18 months from mid 2021 until early 2023, with most written in Sydney’s golden Inner West, with the exception of ‘Far From Home’ which was penned in South Jersey during a particularly hot US summer in 2022.

In the studio, with Sydney producer and musician Tim Kevin (who contributed keys, piano and backup vocals throughout), the trio recorded live to 8-track tape before the full takes were given production sheen and overdubs were added. 

Under the title Wake Me When I’m Thirsty (inspired by one of Orr’s father’s many quirky phrases and word jewels) the band have captured a mercurial sound – a sonic lightning rod connecting cosmic Americana and widescreen, organic indie rock.

Within the songs there are poetic snapshots of romance and relationships (‘Footsteps’, ‘Far From Home’), the complexities of modern life are dissected on ‘Guns n’ Money’ and a misty late-night drive “holding mirrors underneath the stars” is evocatively recounted on the sultry, saxophone featuring ‘Mountain’. ‘April 23rd’ contains a series of vignettes interwoven into a hazy dream, Orr singing “I drift away in a folk dream baby, like a mirror ball spinning at night, with a parking lot in sight.”

That hazy, dreamlike aspect of the band’s sound is the result of their ability to settle into a motorik groove, cruise along via pastoral folk rock, or dial up the jangly guitars into an edgier indie rock reverie. It’s time to take a ride and explore the highways and byways with the exquisite sound of PJ Orr.

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Follow PJ ORR
YouTube – Instagram – Facebook – Spotify

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AMNPLIFY – DB