Music Review // Orava "Behind the Wave"

https://www.oravamusic.com/

Orava has a style of music which seems to either be full of many influences all at once or without compare, depending upon the song and which part of the song you're in.    When "Behind the Wave" starts I think of it as being layered pop rock.  It has the elements of Panic! At The Disco (but the newer stuff) and The Killers but it's missing one a certain dance aspect of those artists-- it feels like a more stripped down version of them.   The first song has these layered vocals too with synth, which would be at the bridge, and it just sounds great together, in harmony, as we are given the mantra of "Try your best".

Acoustic plucks make me think of folk music as spiritual, uplifting vocals take us into "Until Rain Stops".   The titular track comes up third and has a pop acoustic sound to it, being light and just full of energy makes it fun.  "Don't wanna stay stuck behind the wave" becomes the mantra not just for this song but for the entire album really.   As we get into "Trapped" I begin to think of an artist like Blue October who has a similar sense of combining elements of rock music with other genres and just creating something which has its own sound, much like Orava has done here with "Behind the Wave".

About halfway through this album we hit the song "Now I Know" which is the single for me.   When it comes to album placement for a single I feel like I've heard it all before: sometimes they're the first song, sometimes they're the last and often times they're in between.   For this specific album though "Now I Know" just fits so perfectly exactly where it is.   "Do You Care" hits in an electronic and scrambled at times way while "Don't" opens up more like "Unforgiven" by Metallica and then finds its way into distorted waves before the end.    

That particular pairing of songs also seems to go well together and really those are two of my favorites on this album because I feel I can personally relate with them.  The lyrics have this idea of loss and regret and though the first is titled "Do You Care", the song "Don't" actually seems to ask the question of whether or not the other person even ever cared about you.   It's powerful stuff.    As much as I feel like at times this music feels lighter and fun, the lyrics can still just make it overall feel that much more intense and serious.

"Quest For Hope" has a dance synth way about it to start, which is a slight departure from the two previous songs but still works within the general vision of this album.   It ends with some funky synths too, like a cop movie.   The ninth song is an interlude which has pianos and strings on it, which is just fun to hear no matter what you're doing it has that classical appeal.   This takes us into "Going Backwards" which is perhaps the most important song on this album as it somewhat seems to sum up what's wrong but also keeping in mind the mantra of being "Behind the Wave" is how you go about fixing it.

With sad pianos and desolate guitars, "Going Backwards" is a song about regrets.  You know, when you get older you look back at your life a lot and no matter who you are or what you've done I can bet you feel like you've wasted it to some extent.  When you get into your thirties, you think "I wish I had done this in my twenties instead" and it just builds like that, the older you get.   Through the build of choppy waves there is a lot of melody and truth to wanting to go back in time and try again but as the album ultimately makes the point of: we are who we are because of what we've done and not what we'd like to do.