Frankel
Anonymity is the New Fame
Autumn Tone
8/10
By day, Michael Orendy is just another regular, working class musician, playing in bands, moonlighting in dingy bars, [insert cliché here]. But when he’s not “on the clock,” he dons his musical cape and cowl and assumes the identity of Frankel, singer-songwriter extraordinaire, fighting mediocrity with his assortment of strings, electronics, and whatever else he happens to have in his L.A. County bat cave. The result, Anonymity is the New Fame, is a calling card of sorts, encapsulating the best of the singer-songwriter tradition in a potent mixture of guitars and vocals that says to all the would-be players and haters of the world, “Watch out, there is a new sheriff in town.” And judging by the record alone, Orendy knows how to put fear in the heart of the average.
Almost from the start, the album dismisses notions that Orendy is just another singer-songwriter on the make, waiting for his fifteen minutes so he can take the money and run. Skeptical? Listen to the opening bars of the title track, a mix of piano, grunge guitar and atmospherics that sounds like Dr. Moreau took the soulful ivories of Ben Folds, the gritty plucking of Kurt Cobain and the playful electronics of Pet Sounds-era Brain Wilson and fused them into one awesome, genetically mutated animal. Still not convinced? Listen to “Ticket Machine,” a ditty of equal parts Old World folk and dystopian rock n’ roll that brings out the darkness without enveloping everyone in it.
With such a curious blend of folk, rock n’roll and off the wall avant-garde weirdness, it’s no surprise Orendy- er, Frankel- is attracting eyeballs. That said, not all of the songs on the record are Frankeltastic- see “Nowhere.” But just as Batman doesn’t get it right all the time, neither does this musical Caped Crusader. Overall though, the impression is enough to warrant a second, or third listen.
At $9.90, Anonymity is the New Fame is one of the cheapest albums out right now that is anything but cheap. Available via iTunes.
–Jack Winn