EP Review: Overcross

This five-track 14-minute-long EP is the latest release by multi-instrumentalist Jacob Tait, who goes under the name of Orphic Decor. He released his debut EP, Ida, in 2020 and this is the follow-up. His style is very much sat within the indie scene, but within that he moves into different areas so that numbers can be quite synth based, or rawer and more performed on an acoustic. The music is often reflective, looking back on itself and definitely creates an ambience that draws the listener in, and the only way to fully appreciate this is to play this on headphones, otherwise it just gets lost.

It is almost as if Blur have become involved in the New Romantic movement, yet stripped it back and slowed it down, with more thought than the hook-based pop that was known for. Public Transport is one of the standouts for me, virtually fully instrumental it creates a soundscape of electronic sounds which has obviously been influenced by the likes of Tangerine Dream and Thom Yorke and is in stark contrast with the title cut which in some ways goes back to the early days of recording with just a guitar and voice which sounds as if it was recorded in a huge space. Apparently, the vocals and guitar were recorded at the same time, with just the harmonies being added later.

I would like to hear Jacob to experiment more with his experiments in synths, as I can see that moving into some fascinating electronic progressive stylings, but as it is this EP is a wonderful introduction to his music and I certainly look forward to hearing more from him in the future.