Orange Paw

All signs and signifiers point in the direction for this to be an overall good listening experience where you stream a few times while you take in the mountainous graphic design motif and contemplate the use of uppercase 1995 typewriter font for the band’s name and album title before striking out to explore other sounds. However, the unanticipated chords and halting melodies entice one to “stay awhile” longer and absorb the sonic waves stretching out to the horizon. Orange Paw is a solo effort from Mara Williams who is best known for being a member of Melbourne's Pink Tiles. While the overall sound, coated with abundant echo, contains aspects of what was once called noise pop or crash pop, there is an entrancing intangible quality which slopes towards the Aislers Set or the Mountain Rock of Dear Nora. Further, the fidelity might be so low that you can hear the interceding fan of a 2006 laptop in it, yet these ambient parts add up to be part of the greater cohesive whole.

Listeners are lead through the loops and leaps of uneven emotional terrain on "D D D Dorothy" with its ascending and descending melodies lightly wound around surefooted chords and reassuring harmonies in the air. The jaunty “Runaway” is an instrumental gem that stands on the shoulders of giants like “Sacramento” by Heavenly with a dash of the Dunedin sound. Picking up the pace is “Alejandro” and in the hands of a full band, this could be a surging Tra La La song and touted by Shredding Paper (if that outstanding zine was still around).

"Karoke Song” (Song for Raj) heads into to Yea-Ming & the Rumours territory where sparkling night skies are highlighted by falling stars of steel guitar and "Love is Love" by Culture Club plays off in the distance from a transistor radio. “Rockbeare Park” features Tiger Trap crossing paths with the Carpenters, Bread, and the Shirelles. The moody minor key melodies comprising the verses of “Real Big Kid” reminds me of “I Won’t Be the Same Without Her” (composed by Goffin & King and recorded by the Warner Brothers and the Monkees) before heading into an insouciant sounding chorus along the lines of that dog or Dressy Bessy. Throughout Orange Paw, Mara Williams delivers her melodic sensibilities in strong, sure and swift strokes which catch the light through the shifting dynamics and dimensions of Melbourne’s coastal haze.