Louder Than The Music

Having played a set at this year Greenbelt, Owen Ralph brings us his debut album "Hopeless Dream" which is out via I-tunes on October 5th. Owen is also know as O.R.B (The Owen Ralph Band) and has been playing guitar for over 10 years, he also plays a range of other instruments. The influences of his band stem from Seth Lakeman, Martyn Joseph and Show of Hands.

"Fall" uses a picked guitar with deep vocals and dark lyrics of "sorry for all the times I have made you fall....inside", the song seems to be about a moment when your actions cause another person to slip up. With a big band this song could end in epic styles. "Glyndwr" starts off with a fast paced violin, all very clever and creative, you know the scene in 'Back To The Future 3' when they go back in time to the wild west and it's a town party, it sounds like the song that is being played then. Moving on to "Leave It All Behind", which slowly grows into a beautiful track that any band would be proud of. The track has got a hint of the Goo Goo Dolls about it. The next song that jumps out at me is "Spare Change" which has an amazing guitar sound that starts the song. So far this album has had a few mixture of sounds, from rock to indie. This is the sound that inspires Owen and he has created the sound he has wanted. The other track that you can hear O.R.B's clever musicianship is on title track 'Hopeless Dream'.

If I'm being honest, 'Hopeless Dream' has some brilliant moments but is sometimes held back by the lack of a full band to fill out the sound. The potential is there, but sadly some of the tracks sound like demos ready for the next big step. Keep going mate, this is only the start.

Review by Jono Davies

LTTM rating 2.5 out of 5 Stars
Standout Tracks
Leave It All Behind
Fall