Revolving around songwriter Paul Bessenbacher, Santa Monica’s Opus Orange have been steadily honing their indie pop chops across four albums and several EPs since 2010. Having spent a lot of time hovering in the background and providing texture for other artists up until then, Bessenbacher (also known as PB) has certainly picked up the knack for writing memorable pop tunes – and The Lucky Ones is a particularly fine example.

The opener from February’s Miles from Nowhere LP, and recently released as a single complete with a beautifully animated video courtesy of Xuan, The Lucky Ones is about as slick, concise, and addictive as a guitar pop song can get. Built on a driving, metronomic snare-heavy 4/4 beat, layers of tasteful synths, and one of those irresistible guitar licks that seems to be ingrained deep within your mind from the moment you hear it, the muted verses give way to a chorus that seems to just build and build. The lyrics are great too; “Change the locks on the door / Stay a while more / Change the numbers on the phone / They’ll leave us all alone / Shut everything down / Silence all around / Kick the noise out of our heads / We’re the lucky ones”. The theme is pretty self-explanatory (and weirdly relevant given what 2020 has turned out like so far), and succinctly delivered in a style that puts one in mind of artists such as Grizzly Bear, Phoenix, Currents-era Tame Impala, or even a more subdued Killers.

The video that accompanies the tune is a low-key thing of wonder too. Matching the optimism that runs through the track with a palette heavy on prime colours, the stop-motion, collage and hand-drawn aesthetic is a great match to the vibrancy of the music. Using the framing device of a journal; abstract forms appear and disappear, textures clash, Bessenbacher appears in isolation, and the visual eventually turns into a beautiful fragmented landscape that mirrors the open road artwork from the LP. For a song that deals so eloquently with the need to shut off from the world for a while, the idea of using a journal as the basis for the video – that one place where you can document things that you could never say out loud – is very apt. Aside from all that though, it just looks… well, it just looks bloody cool. Like the track itself, this is a visual that builds momentum and demands repeated viewing. Have a watch/listen below and be sure to check out the rest of Miles from Nowhere once you’re done. Very much a new fan here.

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* This track was discovered via Musosoup. A small fee was paid in exchange for publication. See ‘About / Contact’ page for more details.