The Orchids – Unholy Soul: Expanded

This record made its way into the ranks of my series Necessary Repress that focused on LPs that had dropped out of print but needed to find their way back to the presses. I guess somebody was listening. A pretty easy case could be made for the entire Sarah discography, but I’ve always had a soft spot for the second album from The Orchids. It’s a product of its time, lodged between bleary-eyed jangle, a bubbling interest in dance, and the move of British indie towards BritPop proper. The record balances Hackett’s penchant for soft-focus tender missives, the kind that rear their head on “Women Priests & Addicts” or “Long Drawn Saturday Night,” with a sound that dug into dance’s hold on the populace. The first fare folds right into the early years of Sarah, anchoring them easily to the label’s sound, but the record pushes itself from being one more jangler in the queue.

Standout “Frank De Salvo” feels like a kindred spirit to The Stone Roses and The Las, something just on the edge of the next horizon in 1991. “Peaches” takes the same tack that Primal Scream were tearing into and laces some soul into indie’s arms. The new edition doubles down on the essential status by reissuing not only the full breath of Unholy Soul, but also a wealth of surrounding material. The issue adds in the Penetration EP and the Something for the Longing 7”. The added material gives a bit of context as to how the band shaped Unholy Soul, and makes for a handy one-stop edition to grab material that’s otherwise hard to come by, especially on vinyl. Always one of my favorites, and its lovely to have this back out in the world.

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