Orville Peck Releases New Project: "Show Pony"

On Friday August 14th, Orville Peck released his highly anticipated EP titled “Show Pony”. It comes after a delay made by Orville Peck himself to keep the focus on the black lives matter movement. The project follows his highly acclaimed debut studio album “Pony”. This country inspired project takes a closer look into the perspective of Orville Peck himself and finds him trying to figure out what the world is to him. We’ll give you a track by track breakdown of this groundbreaking EP.

Track one: “Summertime”

The extended play opens with an electric guitar melody that sets the theme for the rest of the album. Shortly after, Orville comes in shortly after singing about the free spirit him and his lover have adapted. The song is from Orville’s perspective of looking back at a relationship that lasted through the summer. The production on the song, although average for most country song, is great. Orville Peck’s traditional voice greatly compliments the instruments in the song.

Track two: “No Glory in the West”

Track two “No Glory in the West” continues the thought from the previous song with Orville constantly rethinking his relationship and experiences from the past. We also see the same free spirit mentality from the previous track here in both the chorus and individual verses. The slower temple helps take this ballad to an entirely new level. Once again Orville Peck’s voice sets this song apart from other country songs with similar production.

Track three: “Drive Me, Crazy”

On “Drive Me, Crazy”, we take a step back even further into the relationship between the two. The song opens with a very slow introduction before quickly jumping into the tempo of the song. Continuing the theme of heartbreak, Orville pleads with his lover to once again rekindle their relationship and make things work. The song also takes a more personal look at Orville Peck’s relationship, as it is more about physical connection than actual driving. Instead, Orville uses a play on words to express how he wishes his lover would “drive (him), crazy”. The bridge turns this song into a new direction when Orville explains that his lover is “Speeding by (him)” alluding that even though he wishes things will work out, deep down he knows things are finished between the two of them.

Track four: “Kids”

“Kids” finds Orville talking directly to his lover instead of reflecting alone on his relationship. I know what your thinking, how many more times can Orville talk about the concept of a lost relationship? And thats a fair question, until we look at the contents in the song. Orville sings about complex things on this song. The songs looks over his entire life from when he was a kid, to where he is today. He talks about his youth, and being a troublemaker, and as he continues to sing about his life, he ends up at the present, finally coming with the terms that he has made it this far, and although it will be hard, he will be able to make it without his love.

Track five: “Legends Never Die (With Shania Twain)”

When old country meets new, something magical happens. We take a break from the heartbreak and reflection and look to the road ahead. Orville recruits country legend Shania Twain for not a feature, but more of a duet. Instead of a single verse followed my one chorus of singing, Shania can be heard throughout the entire song. On this track, Orville and Twain find their mentality of life and fame. They reflect of how they became who they are today to become the legends that they are today. Twain fits perfectly on this track and even brings her signature sound to the production.

Track six: “Fancy” Unlike the rest of the original songs on the EP, “Fancy” take the Reba McEntire classic and turns it on its head. The song tells the same story as the original, that of a dirt poor boy in this version, who has to provide for his family after his father leaves. However the production changes the song completely. Instead of upbeat production like the original, this cover is eerie and filled with more rock than other Orville Peck songs. And although it would have been nice to see an ending to the story presented in the first half of the album, this is a fitting outro to an incredible and groundbreaking extended play.

“Show Pony” delivered everything we wanted on an Orville Peck project, but not without some problems. First off, consistence becomes a big problem once we get to the final two tracks. At the beginning of the EP, it appears we are in for a concept type of album. The first four tracks all link themselves together perfectly, however once we get to the fifth track (“Legends Never Die”) everything is thrown out and is replaced with Orville paying respects to country legends. These last two tracks j not bad, the are actually quite good, but they just don’t fit on the project like the previous songs do. But I believe that the good far out weighs the bad. Some would say that production is too similar from song to song, however Orville’s voice really saves the project. It is incredible how one man can singlehandedly bring back an old sound and make it new. He has the perfect voice for this and his lyrics on the songs hold up just as well. I think it is safe to say that many will be looking forward to more Orville Peck.

So one more thing…who is Orville Peck? Well the answer is actually quite simple. This genera defining artist is probably none other than Daniel Pitout of rock band Nü Sense. This would explain why there is such a heavy rock influence on his songs. Here is my reasoning for this: Orville has said that he grew up in the Southern Hemisphere, was in a punk band, and was in a European play. This fits up with what we know about Nü Sense drummer Daniel Pitout who was born in the South Africa and was a replacement for Peter Pan in a British play in 2016. If this wasn’t enough evidence, they both have very similar tattoos is similar places. Both Pitout and Peck identify themselves to be gay. And although this is a minor detail that doesn’t do a lot to support my case, it defiantly narrows down the list of potential contenders. Weather Orville Peck is Daniel Pitout or not does not take away from the incredible talent that is Orville Peck, and we can’t wait to see what he does next.

Thanks for reading this weeks edition of Behind The Record, if you have a song or album you think we should cover, email us at unknownskullrecords@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram! Make sure you come back often to see what’s new in the world of music.

Behind the Record powered by Unknown Skull Records Season 1: Article 6. Thanks for Checking out this weeks music review! Check out our website here if you haven’t already!