Orville Peck - Appaloosa

Orville Peck was last seen in 2024 in collaborative mode on the full-length ‘Stampede’. Here, across the seven sweeping, dark country cuts of ‘Appaloosa’, he turns lovesick lone ranger to wander a post-Covid romantic wilderness in a near-perpetual search for companionship and affection, burdened by his own afflictions. “Never been a selfish man / But I don’t have much heart left,” he confesses on the contemplative ‘My Side of The Mountain’, “So I’m saving what I can.” Cementing the Canadian’s spot in the Americana guild, ‘Appaloosa’ further marbleises the two extremes within the singer’s ambling dark folk niche: ‘Dreaded Sundown’ is a depressive excursion across a wasteland, cinematic and bewitching in its crescendo, while ‘Maybe This Time’ is tender in its confessions of inadequacy and, eventually, hope. Meanwhile, though ‘Oh My Days’ strays easily into the indie alt-rock of his predecessors – resulting in something a little too close to The Goo Goo Dolls’ ‘Iris’ - it’s no less affecting in its sombre tambourine fireside reflection. He portrays the listlessness of modern romance with ease, and with such rapturous command of a style that, by now, has begun to sound singularly his own. Yet, there’s always trickling hope beneath all the arid gravel. “All the odds are in my favour,” he muses on ‘Maybe This Time’, “Something’s bound to begin.”