The troupe released their third studio album, Peel, this past May, returning to the producer of their first album, Time to Go, Grammy-nominated legend John Keane. Keane, who has worked with globally successful bands such as R.E.M. and Widespread Panic, played a big role in the influence of the album’s mechanics of full-bodied, repetitive riffs and fine-spun harmonies. “Our last album [Point of Reference], we worked with producer Drew Vandenberg, and he had a lot of influence in our sound,” recalled Freiberg. “He had this indie, experimental style and played a lot with tone. With Keane, it was more from a polished and technical approach. It was less about the natural take and more about precision.” There’s a natural evolution from Time to Go to Peel, but considerable differences in tone and texture can be heard between the band’s second and third album, which has three years between them. “You can hear the difference projected in both albums,” Freiberg adds. While the new album has received commentary that described the band’s nine new tunes as being contextually darker and heavier, many will contend that the music remains upbeat and lighthearted in nature. This alone posed some challenges amid a COVID-stricken release that could feel tangibly disconnected. “That was part of the problem when the pandemic hit,” explained Freiberg. “But we didn’t have the vision to put out a politically current album." Peel was pushed back a few times from being released, but when it finally took flight, it landed just right. Synth sounds of the ’90s, a familiar and codependent sound of psychedelic-tones-meet-funk-rock rhythms, and, surprisingly, tinges of contemporary blues all take listeners on a blissful journey that is more than welcome during an uncertain and dreary time. A time, in fact, that the band is weathering rather well, considering. “We know other bands in our scene who might not come back from this,” said Freiberg. Thankfully though, for music lovers, it looks like The Orange Constant will remain a constant fix for quite some time to come. The Orange Constant concert: Saturday, Jan. 23, doors open at 9 p.m.; Barrelhouse South, 125 W. Congress St., Savannah – visit theorangeconstant.com to learn more.“Savannah is one of the few places we can actually play right now, and the band has been playing at Barrelhouse for longer than I’ve been in it.”
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