The Oregon Donor
Somethings
Where I live, it's impossible to navigate the local music scene without crossing paths with The Oregon Donor. They hail from the picturesque Anacortes, Washington, just a short drive down Highway 20 from the sparsely-placed coffeehouse venues that serve an area thirsty for live music. Skagit County is less known for culture than for agriculture. In such a severely undersaturated market, these guys have become a staple.
The story of The Oregon Donor began in 2005 as a vehicle for the songwriting of one Christopher Edwards. It soon became a four-piece band and quickly established itself as one of Skagit County's premier acts.
In October 2008, The Oregon Donor took the logical next step in their careers by signing with the Seattle-based Burning Building Recordings. In keeping with the music industry's recent shift towards digital releases, Burning Building has released The Oregon Donor's newest album, entitled "Somethings", as a digital-only release. The album was recorded by The Oregon Donor the previous winter.
With a sound that evokes the loud, dissonant indie rock that dominated the rainy area from Vancouver to Portland in the 1990s, you probably wouldn't guess that they're hardly old enough to buy beer. With grace and skill, their fingers maneuver all over the fretboard to create expressive, smooth guitar riffs that keep the listener awake.
Indeed, at times it seems that more emphasis is placed on their note-intensive instrumental texture than on a desire to keep the song moving forward, and repetition is used almost to a fault. But the quality of the riffs is such that even during instrumental sections, the guitars sing with just as much personality as their human counterparts.
Against this musical backdrop, Edwards sings lyrics which take on an often storybook-like quality with a voice patterned on the slightly uneven vocal style of, perhaps, a Doug Martsch or an Isaac Brock.
Standout tracks include the anthemic "Circle & Cross" and the sparkly "Autumn Anthem" (which descends into a crunchy outro with time signatures that would make a calculator at least as useful as a metronome).
"Somethings" is proof that The Oregon Donor have the skill and finesse they need to be worthy of the much larger playing field that they have stepped into as a part of the Burning Building roster. And it's an album they should be proud of.
Reviewed By: Brenton William Brookings
Rating: 2 1/2 our of 4
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