He has a new track out as part of Track and Field Records‘s Summer Compilation Vol. 2, a collection from the Portland label featuring Dear Tracks, Azul Toga, Cemeteries, Lost Film, Jimmy Pop and loads more. Orchid Mantis’s offering, ‘It Was Gone’, is a perfect fit for the summer vibe, with nostalgia-drenched vocals and the blissed-out pop sound conjuring warm, carefree evenings and hot sticky nights – think Toro Y Moi meets Ricky Eat Acid.

Whilst we are on the subject of Orchid Mantis, we might as well take a quick look at his most recent EP. To Get Back There, released this July, is more experimental than ‘It Was Gone’, the songs built from layers of electronic instruments and ambient noise and washed in a tape hiss so that each forms its own dreamscape, heavenly versions of earthly lands. The majority of the record is instrumental, any vocals doing no more than providing another instrument (see the ooohs on ‘Covered In Moss’), but ‘Ivy Trees’ breaks the mould with its cryptic lyrics which float through the music with an imprecise sense of purpose, like life wandering through a dream:

“Break me
break me
i have tried so many times

safety comes easily
trapped behind these open eyes

can i see you
can’t i just see you
i won’t feel better till i tell you
it’s all my fault”

You can buy the EP (and all of his previous releases) via the Orchid Mantis Bandcamp page, and Track and Field Records Summer Compilation Vol. 2 is available over on their Bandcamp page.

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