Song of the Day: Ela Orleans – “Better Friends”
Released: 2009
Album: Lost
I can’t be the only Ela Orleans fan in this world. But at times it feels like I could be. Fandom of an obscure artist can often feel like being part of a really exclusive secret club. In a world as large and connected as it is now, it’s a pretty cool feeling. No one wants to be totally basic.
Experimental Polish musician Ela Orleans has been quietly producing some of the most remarkable, eerie records of the past decade plus. The sounds are a unique collage inspired by mix of pop, electronica, film music, folk, and much more. There’s a lovely ghostly haze that inhabits her atmospheric musical renderings. The music may be experimental in nature, but it’s never remotely unapproachable. “Better Friends,” with its dreamy 50s pop engulfed in hypnotic atmospheric loops and tense violin, is a perfect example of the mystifying sounds of Ela Orleans.
Lyrics
When I’m all alone
Envy me most
Then my thoughts flutter round me
In a glimmering host
Some dressed in silver
Some dressed in white
Each like a taper
Blossoming light
Most of them married
Some of them grave
Each of them lithe
As willows that wave
Some dressed in silver
Some dressed in white
Each like a taper
Blossoming light
Some bearing violets
Some bearing bay
One with a burning rose
Hidden away
When I’m all alone
Envy me then
For I have better friends
Than women and men