Orion Rigel Dommisse – What I Want From You Is Sweet / 2007
“Fake Yer Death†is the first single on “What I Want From Youâ€, and it is very deliberate in its composition. The strings provide a very ordered and sedate bed for Dommisse’s vocals to lies on. Dommisse does more with eir vocals that most other musicians; they are not only there to tell a story, but to add further instrumentation to the track. The tracks on the album do not have any specific genre linkage, but bounce around from indie to folk and even musical styles from the early twentieth century. These disparate elements are linked together by Dommisse into something that is unique, and works well in the current context.
“Alice and Sarah†continues this sedate approach to the creative enterprise, with the strings really providing individuals with a film score-like sound. The vocals continue to straddle the line between story-telling and harmony-producers, but Dommisse here is much more linear in eir approach. The same quaintness is present during this track, but the track meanders less and allows listeners to understand more of what Dommisse is trying to do with “What I Want From Youâ€. “A Faceless Deathâ€brings the set of influences up to the sixties; the organ that stars off this track feels much more modern than the strings did previously. However, Dommisse struggles during the early moments of the track to bring eir vocals up to a level that is higher than the instrumentations.
The problem is ultimately solved, but further production on this decidedly lo-fi would have been nice to normalize the composition. Later tracks on “What I Want From Youâ€, such as “A Giverâ€, continually innovate and shift what individuals should expect from Dommisse. The final track, “Drink Yourself (To Death)â€, provides individuals with the same general sound – the opened jewelry box – that has been present during earlier tracks. However, it is the inclusion of a twinkling sound that winds things up nicely and provides individuals with closure to what was an impressive album. I may not have heard of Dommisse before putting on this disc, but I know that I will take much more note of eir in the months to come. This album is a must buy for individuals that like challenging music of all forms, those that like to look back to earlier periods of music, and those that just really want an alternative to the pablum pop that is filling the airwaves.
Top Tracks: A Giver, Capricorn
Rating: 7.3/10