Time can really make an artist reflect, and oftentimes artists tend to respond to that by using their work as a commentary on that; artists defined by their influences and love to pay homage to them are multi-faceted and transparent with those homages. Hence, upon listening to Brian Halloran’s Four Orphans EP, songs that were inspired by the alternative-rock bands that composed of the underrepresented (at least in context to the mythologization of Nirvana and grunge) second coming of the rootsy jam-band alternative-rock sound that composed the 90s with artists such as R.E.M., Counting Crows, Semisonic, Gin Blossoms, with touches of Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors and even Hootie & The Blowfish in certain progressions: I was not at all surprised to hear that the singer-songwriter had been performing in and around the great state of New York for thirteen years.
The title of the EP comes from the fact that the four songs that show up here don’t really quite fit onto either Brian Halloran’s previous release of The Cocktail Hour in 2023 or their upcoming album slated to come out soon, marking their eighth album release and showing that Brian is a veteran in the music scene, and a hardworking one at that.
Prior to this extended play, I actually gave The Cocktail Hour a listen and can confirm that the tracks of Four Orphans are a different nature. In The Cocktail Hour, Brian lays bare to make sense of the world gone by through the lens of stepping back in the eras of before and trying to compare and contrast, dealing with the flurry of emotions and existential quandaries that time would eventually unfurl unto an artist. As time changes, so do we. This is setting aside that The Cocktail Hour was very much a post-pandemic album with its reflections, whereas Four Orphans feels a lot more real-time; much like how times of now feels transitory between the isolating paranoia of the earlier half of the pandemic. Mixed by Ricky Watts this EP feels like trying to create life anew by the best means possible. Making due, so to speak.
Tracks like The Only Thing Keeping Me Down, bloom through with their steady rhythms as the lyrics go about accepting personal responsibility for one’s own emotional state as Brian matter-of-factly states that the titular thing that keeps him down is himself. Another personal highlight of mine comes in the form of For a Song, which feels very much attributed to music made by Semisonic, with the lead guitar touches provided by Zack Zaro being a notable plus to the song’s technicolor vibes.
Four Orphans find a home on Brian’s newest EP, and these are a precursor to his upcoming album, consider me excited for more.
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About the Author
A tenured media critic known working as a ghost writer, freelance critic for publications in the US and former lead writer of Atop The Treehouse. Reviews music, film and TV shows for media aggregators.
