BIO:
Orienteering is defined as a cross-country race in which participants use a map and compass to navigate along checkpoints across unfamiliar terrain. In the case of Ottawa’s Orienteers, music is both navigational tool and terrain. The result is their unique brand of space-folk that seems less intent upon any sort of race, than it does with taking its time exploring the outer limits of an uncharted aural galaxy. Last month they released their eponymous full-length, Orienteers (out via Antique Room), which in their own words, “…is a travel focused collection of fragile space-folk, layered with looping pedal-steel guitar, wind chime acoustics and warm blankets of bass and brush sticks.”
In 2008, under the name That’s The Spirit, they released the album Staying Places to great critical acclaim, in the wake of which they opened for fellow indie dream-explorers the Flaming Lips and Metric, and played high-profile festivals like NXNE, CMW and Ottawa Bluesfest. Settling on a new name that they felt better reflected their penchant for writing about travel, Orienteers have penned an album that is quiet and sparse but feels complete in and of itself as it traverses the realm of psych and folk with utter aplomb, and has drawn comparisons to Sparklehorse, the Shins, Flaming Lips, Giant Sand, Belle and Sebastian, Simon and Garfunkel, The Byrds, and Spiritualized. However, the fact is that this four-piece truly sounds like no one else.
On Orienteers, the experimental melancholia is heightened by countrified guitars, undulating synth and subdued vocals--all swirled into a melodic psychedelic dream, bolstered by solid song writing throughout. Speaking of song writing, we’ve been told that since adopting their new moniker, they’ve been writing at a furious pace. In other words, expect Orienteers to be the first in a series of space-folk masterpieces. However, until the arrival of the next album, feel free to bask in the glory of the current release. And when they come to your town, be sure to catch the live act. Each delicate performance draws you in to a carefully composed world of sonic exploration.
CONTACT:
SARAH RICHARDSON
LINKS:
OFFICIAL SITE
MYSPACE
TOUR/PRESS: