I was a bit hesitant to dive into White Fence’s newest album, Orange, Tim Presley’s first one in seven years. This is because there was a period around 10 or so years ago when Presley decided to really dive into the surreal with his DRINKS collab project with Cate Le Bon and the 2019 White Fence album I Have To Feed Larry’s Hawk. Many of the tracks in the period were created (in my opinion) without any satisfying conclusion and felt crafted in an improvised fashion that just fringed on the line of psychedelic pop. It wasn’t my cup of tea.
I wanted more structure in the madness as we heard on albums like 2014’s For The Recently Found Innocent. Well, I’m happy to report that Orange is back to classic White Fence, easily digestible, psychedelic offerings that jangle and reverberate in the back of my mind with hooks that stay lodged in my subconscious. Sure, it’s still ’60s pop resurgence, but damn is it catchy. We start strong with the bright and halcyon “That’s Where The Money Goes (Seen from the Celestial Realm),” which has Ty Segall on drums and Presley singing about a dusty dream. “Your Eyes” has some gorgeous vocal harmonies akin to Love on the genre-bending Forever Changes.
I also love the simplicity of a track like “Reflection in a Shop Window on Polk.” We do get a bit of weirdness on the backwards looped guitar solo on “I Wanted a Rolex.” The closer “Blind Your Sun,” brings back some synthy flair under more jangle pop guitars that follow a normal 4/4 until they don’t—classic White Fence.
