Photo Credit: Carlos Santolalla
Orville Peck will release Pony, his full-length debut, on CD/LP/DL March 22nd worldwide through Sub Pop.
Pony, which features the lead single and official video for ‘Dead of Night,’ along with the highlights ‘Turn to Hate,’ ‘Buffalo Run,’ and the previously released ‘Big Sky,’ was produced by Orville Peck, recorded and mixed by Jordan Koop at The Noise Floor on Gabriola Island, British Columbia and mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering in Montreal, Quebec.
Watch ‘Dead of Night’ below:
‘Dead of Night’ is a torch song about two hustlers travelling through the Nevada desert. Young drifters whose whirlwind romance takes us on a dusty trail of memories – racing down canyon highways, hitchhiking through casino towns and ending ultimately in tragedy. Orville recalls the adventures of his young love as he watches the boys silently pass him on the strip, haunted by the happy memories of his past.
The ‘Dead of Night’ video follows Orville and his posse of companions – a washed up gambler, a Cubano boxer, a Senegalese cowgirl, and a Wild West club kid (Played by Hopper Penn, Alex Cammen, Magné Ndiaye and Dez Sam, respectively). ‘Dead of Night’ was directed by Michael Maxxis, and shot on location in Nevada at the legendary Chicken Ranch brothel (the real-life inspiration for The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas), and features many of the ladies who work there.
About Orville Peck’s Pony:
Combining the lulling ambience of shoegaze with the iconic melodies and vocal prowess of classic American country music, outlaw cowboy, Orville Peck croons about love and loss from the badlands of North America. The resulting sound is entirely his own. He takes the listener down desert highways, through a world where worn out gamblers, road-dogs, and lovesick hustlers drift in and out of his masked gaze.
Orville’s debut album, Pony, delivers a diverse collection of stories that sing of heartbreak, revenge and the unrelenting tug of the cowboy ethos. Warm lap steel guitars and echoing drums move through dreamy ballads and sometimes near frantic buzzsaw tunes – all the while paying homage to his country music roots.
On the campfire lullaby, ‘Big Sky,’ Orville sings about his past lovers – an aloof biker, an abusive boxer and an overly protective jailor in the Florida Keys – and the inevitable demise of each one, as he leaves them for the wide open, big sky.
Meanwhile ‘Turn To Hate’ finds Orville struggling to keep his resentment from building into hatred. A continuous battle between embracing the strength and freedom of being an outsider, and the inevitable struggle of wanting normalcy and familiarity. It encapsulates Orville’s dilemma as a cowboy. He sings about having to constantly repair situations in his wake, and fighting with himself over his decision making. To stay or go; to cry or not; whether to leave without saying goodbye in order to soften the blow; All the while wishing someone would tell him that they “can’t stay,” and to make the decision for him.
And ‘Buffalo Run’ acts as a warning, a song built around the imagery of stampeding buffalo in the badlands of the Northern Plains. It’s one that begins peacefully enough but soon transcends into a kinetic charge that crescendos as the buffalo are headed off the cliffside.
What people are saying about Orville Peck:
“Orville Peck shifting expectations of country music from behind his fringed leather mask” – The Line of Best Fit
“The music of Orville Peck is a love letter and urgent update to a genre whose rebellious spirit has been co-opted and polished, at once a reminder of where country music came from, but also pushing the boundaries on where it can go.” – Exclaim
“The old west is still well and truly alive in the music of masked singer Orville Peck” – The 405
“…The dark, eerie single “Big Sky” which is pretty promising.” [“Big Sky”] – Brooklyn Vegan
“‘Big Sky” is a vivid, moonshine-dosed account of Peck’s unconventional relationships, including ones with abusive boxers and jailors in the Florida Keys.” [“Big Sky” premiere] – V Man
Orville Peck Pony Tracklisting
- Dead of Night
- Winds Change
- Turn To Hate
- Buffalo Run
- Queen of the Radio
- Kansas (Remembers Me Now)
- Old River
- Big Sky
- Roses Are Falling
- Take You Back (The Iron Hoof Cattle Call)
- Hope to Die
- Nothing Fades Like the Light
Orville Peck: Spotify – Apple Music – Bandcamp – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram – Website – Sub Pop – Royal Mountain Records
