the joint compound - please don't leave get out

The Joint Compund 

Please Don't Leave Get Out
self-released; 2013

4.0 out of 5

By Matt Jensen

Daniel Orvik was in the rhythm section of the band Stars of Track and Field before he went at it alone under the moniker The Joint Compound. He went on to create his solo EP entitled Please Don't Leave Get Out, which he wrote, performed, recorded, mixed and produced entirely by himself. I am completely dumbfounded by this fact and the record sounds great production-wise and the arrangements and the amount of instruments he plays is more than impressive. The debut EP is 22-minutes long but packs in a lot within that time. Take for example the opening track “I'm Gonna Miss You. The song burst from the beginning with great guitar melodies, bass, drums and more. As the guitar gives way Orvik has great lyrics talking about Atari and early gaming systems and interweaving that with lines like “I'm gonna miss you.” The little production tricks are well played and don't sound like a gimmick whether it is the extra reverb on his voice for a single word or the electronic glitches. As the song progresses it introduces a number of different of instruments and by the end you are saying to yourself why haven't you been doing solo work sooner.

Orvik proves the first song was no fluke with “Neverending Fuckaround.” The song is more experimental than the first song as he adds textures such as whirling synths, and bass drops behind unique guitar riffs He sings over these somewhat chaotic textures. When the drums come in it gives the song some more foundation and out of nowhere he rocks out as we hear distorted guitars and the synths drops off. It is such an awesome change - very original and had me do a double take. On top of this the songs just seems to get better. 

“Hold Your Ground” was the most straightforward song on the album. It was far from my favorite but was still pretty darn catchy. “Rock in a Quarry” is a good experimental rock tune. He changes the song plenty of times and no one would ever accuse Orvik of being boring.

He closes with “Trophy in the Sky” which is arguably the best track on the album. The album is more electronic than anything else but also has some of the most inventive sounds as well as the catchiest vocal melodies on the album. The songs just get better as it goes on. 

This is one of those albums that just took me by surprise.  There are some moments on this album that are beyond good and are simply exceptional. All I can say is that you need to check this out.

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