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ORLANDO WEEKS and Rhian Teasdale re-make promises and roll their eyes with the ex-Maccabees man’s new single, ‘Dig’. With a full-length ‘LOJA’ set to follow this summer, find out more with our latest Dork Mixtape cover feature.
Words: Ciaran Picker.
Photos: Kate Friend.
We’ve all known a couple like this: they’ve been together for years but have never really seemed overly happy together. One is always kowtowing to the other, and every few months, they threaten a break-up before miraculously making amends and beaming with pride for all of five minutes.
On Orlando Weeks’ newly-released single, ‘Dig’, he takes on exactly this character, one who promises things will change, while his partner – in this case, Wet Leg’s Rhian Teasdale – reels off veiled snipes and sly digs, stating, “I’ll believe it when I see it”.
Given Wet Leg’s status as one of the world’s biggest new bands, Orlando being able to land such a prestigious collaboration speaks to his continued reputation in the business – especially given how the relationship initially began. “They asked me to be in a Wet Leg video, and my reply was, ‘I don’t want to do that’,” he chuckles, “but I figured, now they’ve asked, I’m entitled to an ask too!”
For Orlando, Rhian provided the perfect sparring partner. “I’m such a huge fan of Wet Leg. I was recording on the Isle of Wight, and it was like the first time they’d been back home for about two years, so it was written in the stars. The delivery of their lyrics on their own work, the way they present them, they have such amazing emotional intelligence. I felt like Rhian would be able to get the hushed tension of the track, and she understood it straight away.”
Rhian’s undeniable talent shines through in the track, something which was evident to Orlando in the studio and subsequently in the accompanying video. “Rhian just has this miraculous presence,” Orlando states, “she’s just a bona fide rock star. She came in, nailed the vocal in four takes, and just holds the room. Then, with the video, she was able to run on a treadmill while singing at double speed.”
‘Dig’ represents just one of the multi-sided emotional journey that unfolds on Weeks’ new album, ‘Loja’, due this summer via Fiction Records.
Heavily inspired by Orlando’s move to Lisbon just after the pandemic, the title is Portuguese for shop or store, referencing the property he rents and uses as an art studio. The different pace of life, almost unblemished hours of sunshine, and Orlando’s improved state of mind all provided a levity to the album, allowing him to be creative both musically and artistically.
“It’s definitely more laid-back than London,” Orlando posits. “There isn’t that hectic, oppressive, almost sub-conscious fizz. I still find it romantic, charming; I’m completely besotted with it.” Nods to his new home are peppered across the record, with ‘Best Night’ containing Portuguese spoken word, whilst closing track ‘Beautiful Place’ illuminates his newfound joy on the Atlantic Coast, using sound, smell, and sight to transport the listener to an almost utopian landscape.
His move to the Iberian Peninsula has been a long time coming, feeling like the place where he and his family were meant to be. “Before Covid, we were living in Berlin, and it was so cold. My wife turned to me and said, ‘Why are we still here?’ And I didn’t have a good answer.” As with everything, though, it wasn’t that everything just fell into place, with the small matter of a pandemic and the joy of having a child filling the time before they could finally live their dream. “It’s hard to remember the big plan sometimes,” he says, “but thankfully, my wife has always been good at keeping her eye on the prize.”
Clearly, Orlando’s life is very different from 2022, when he released his last album, ‘Hop Up’. As such, the approach to this project was eminently different. “There’s less of a manifesto with this record. ‘Hop Up’ was as unrelentingly positive as I could muster. With this one, I wrote most of it in Lisbon and some in London, so it was more about capturing a moment.”
“I’m such a huge fan of Wet Leg”
Orlando Weeks
Orlando’s life being split between his London birthplace and new Lisbon home is mirrored in the feeling of tracks on the record, allowing him to show all the sides of his personality. ‘Longing’ and ‘You & The Packhorse’ speak to his immense devotion to his family, whilst the aforementioned ‘Dig’ is probably the closest to a traditional rock song that you’ll find on ‘Loja’, using gritty guitar lines and vocal blending to portray the anger and inevitability of the situation. Elsewhere, ‘Tomorrow’ sees Orlando delve into introspection, opening up about his struggles with anxiety, using a violin to add a sense of chaos and spiralling madness to the track.
“‘Tomorrow’ was very nearly the lead single. Ollie from [folk-rock band] caroline played violin on the track. He’s a really talented musician and understood the way that I wanted to portray a hellish feeling alongside the absurdity of catastrophised thought that you have when you’re in that anxious place.”
Building a team of trusted musicians was central to Orlando’s thesis for this project, shifting locations to the Isle of Wight to work with long-time friends and producers David Granshaw and Sergio Maschetzko. Combining with his touring bandmates, the group set about creating the record in just 13 days, an experiment that didn’t quite work the way Orlando had hoped.
“The first half was a real pleasure. We were really concentrated; the flow was great. We could play with all the bells and whistles and be like, ‘Maybe we can use this massive glockenspiel somewhere?’ We left having a pretty good base, but it felt unfinished, and I knew the songs deserved better. Maybe I’m just not that kind of songwriter – one that can just go into a studio and capture the feeling of a room with all its foibles and eccentricities – but I want to try it again.”
In spite of this pressure-cooker environment and a second week which, by his own admission, Orlando “ruined by trying to create something presentable rather than something that felt right”, there is a remarkable amount of content on the record. Intricacies and detail flood the record, represented by the swelling, layered synth and vocal work on ‘Wake Up’, or the driving guitar line that contrasts sharply with the female vocal on ominous-yet-heartfelt ‘My Love Is (Daylight Saving)’.
Chatting with Orlando, there’s a real sense that he’s a perfectionist, one who is overly harsh on himself and his own ability. “When I first heard the finished record, all I heard was the mistakes,” he admits. “Then I didn’t listen to it until I had to pick a single.” Thankfully, though, he’s since been able to separate himself from his own self-doubt. “It’s the longest I’ve sat on a record between finishing it and releasing it, but the more I hear it, the more I like it, and I am genuinely very proud of it.”
As a relatively old hand in the game, with a wealth of material behind him from his time in The Maccabees and during his solo career, Orlando has been able to decipher exactly what it is he wants from this release. “The things I love about making music haven’t changed,” he shares. “The luxury of being able to create something from nothing, the privilege of being able to prospect for gold is all pleasure – even the frustrations are pleasure.”
“There’s less of a manifesto with this record; it was more about capturing a moment”
Orlando Weeks
Positives always come with slightly-less-positives, though, with Orlando’s being the live show. “I struggle with the performance aspect,” he says. “It’s not something I hanker after. I’d love to be sliding across the stage on my knees, ripping up a guitar line, but that’s just not my schtick.”
Luckily, he’s found his niche, taking joy from creating a visual world to help the music shine even brighter, something made easier by his new life in sunnier climbs. That’s why, rather than a conventional tour, Orlando is holding an artist residency at The Copeland Gallery in South London.
“The art goes hand-in-hand with the music. Creating visual prompts can help me out of a hole with song ideas; they provide a bit of a relief, so I feel less stymied by them. Both the record and the artwork are about being in a new place that I find magical and a bit fantastical, so I wanted to create quite a novel experience for people. I guess this is my equivalent of a ten-minute guitar solo or high kicks!”
Fantasy is a word that winds its way through this entire phase of Orlando’s life, with the Gulliver’s Travels-esque music video for ‘Dig’, as well as the way that he plays with scale in his drawings and prints, giving a real sense that life still feels just a little bit off-kilter for Weeks. “I can’t quite believe it’s real. I guess because I’m seeing every experience through my son’s eyes and how astounded he is with everything, it’s a good reminder of the novelty of it.”
If you were to pick one central theme, which in an album of such depth and multi-faceted concepts is nigh-on impossible, then sense of place would certainly be a contender, with his art show feeding back into this idea. “Compared to conventional tours, where you’re in a city for soundcheck, then a gig, then back to a Travelodge, this just allows me to understand a space a bit more, and let people live with the art and hopefully appreciate the music a bit more.”
This new phase of Orlando Weeks’ life is, in many ways, the dream scenario. Moving to a beautiful city with a family you adore, being able to create art and music with amazing musicians, and not let any hurdles stand in the way of what you were born to do. By taking pride in every little detail of ‘Loja’, he’s created a record with a huge heart, immense warmth, but above all, a truly loveable soul. ■
Orlando Weeks’s new single ‘Dig’ is out now. His new album ‘LOJA’ is released digitally on June 6th and on physical formats on August 23rd. Follow Dork Mixtape on Spotify here.
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