Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
“Do not go gentle into that good night…”, words written arguably by Britain’s most dominant poet of the 20th Century, and one that we must pay attention to if we are to be more than a whisper at any point of our life; and one that Scottish singer-songwriter, Oran, complies with charm and grace, and the ferocity of a sun exploding in space, in her brand new debut album, Rebellious Rebirth.
It is perhaps the midst of acknowledging our own battles that we arrive at the conclusion that art is the healer, that if we prescribe to a kind of primal therapy where the experience is nursed back to health, where can look it logically and learn from the lesson to create something timeless, so acute and beautiful, then we don’t have to be meek in the face of pain, but rather roar like a bear or howl as the Canadian Timberwolf would against the backdrop of harsh conditions.
To create, first we must understand and reflect, and hope that we also carry the battle cry of the revolutionary into our new, bold outlook, and in Rebellious Rebirth the opportunity to see the world in retrospect, to captivate the audience and the fan in a celebration of resurrection and perhaps rejuvenation is a compelling act of self-assured dynamically charged self-exploration; an explosion of confidence that reaches out with that groove of ferocity.
Across tracks such as Set Free, My Wulver, Sweet Downfall, Ocean Blues, and the conclusion of the album in This Moment and Dream Anyway, what becomes clear is that the journey undertaken to arrive at the point of delivery was one that pushed the boundaries, the subtle undertones weaved through the narrative are such that the support gleaned infuses, inspires the listener to seek their own path to renewal, to be a non-conformist militant in the fight against a society and its woes that threaten to topple us all into the abyss.
A wonderful debut album by Oran, one of class that is willing to never bend or buckle, but instead be fiery in her own renaissance.
Ian D. Hall