Worried Mind is the new album from Hamilton, Ontario musician Scott Orr, who has become known for his delicate and ethereal folk songs. The record is what Orr describes as “an optimistic look at anxiety, worry, and the beauty of having someone to share it with,” forming a hushed home-recorded collection of songs about family and relationships.
Worried Mind elevates the conventional singer-songwriter sound by fusing acoustic guitar and ponderous piano with analogue synths, resulting in an evocative ambience that carries as much as Orr’s words. It exists in its own atmosphere, a hushed vacuum that excludes the outside world. The effect is something like being adrift in a car during a nighttime snowstorm, sitting in a pocket of comfort and warmth, like a snow globe in reverse.
Opener ‘Sunburned’ approaches from a near hush, barely audible piano and guitar strum backed with fluttering electronics which soon blossom to the forefront and take the place of a chorus throughout the track. When they arrive, Orr’s vocals are delicately cool and considered, delivering lines that explore the ebbs and flows of a long term relationship.
“Remember you, in that picture we took
Sunburned baby, I don’t know
We’re as high as this high can go”
‘A Memory’ is a quiet front porch folk song, the sound of watching a twilit neighbourhood pass-by slowly, while the sincerely romantic ‘Fall Apart’ lilts with an almost tropical sway, Orr declaring his love for his significant other in no uncertain terms.
But things aren’t always so pink and gold and positive. ‘Seasons’ feels like a distillation of Worried Mind, smooth and uncluttered, just simple percussion and honest sentiment. “I feel so lonely, I feel so sad,” Orr sings, “don’t wait to call me, it’s just a bad kind of season.” This changes around the two minute mark as synths add texture, a digital grainy noise that sits behind Orr’s breathy vocals. Perhaps the most difficult song on the record, finale ‘Sometime’ sees Orr reflect on his relationship with his estranged father, a perfectly gentle and minimal end to the album that flutters with very real emotion.
“Thought I was over it this time
I want to tear you apart and see what’s on the inside
I’ll never understand, how did it feel like?”
Worried Mind is out now on Other Songs Music Co. and you can get it on cassette or download via their Bandcamp page.
