Orange Fang Fang Boys first single was in 2018 with singles released up to 2020. Now after a two-year break, Orange Fang Fang Boys present MERAKI. The 11-song album is mainly instrumental, but there are some tracks with additional vocals. At their core, Orange Fang Fang Boys is an instrumental band and throughout the album, it’s easy to tell that they are influenced by a lot of different genres.
“FANG FANG” is a cross between rock and punk. Instead of being shoegaze, math rock, or post rock band, Orange Fang Fang Boys create songs that kind of remind me of video game soundtracks, small chiptune elements, and generally a lot of fast-tempo pop punk. I think that helps remove any limits that Orange Fang Fang Boys might have.
The band does shake hands with recognized instrumental-only genres, like “Walking Dead” and adds vocals around the song’s bridge. Then with “FIRE NOODLES,” Orange Fang Fang Boys dive a little further with math rock and instrumental genres. They compose with freedom, which can cause some confusion about what type of band they are easily classified as, but overall they are an instrumental band.
Bass guitar fans should definitely listen to “3 MINUTE.” Drummers get “Cantante.” Orange Fang Fang Boys do suffer from a little lack of polish on MERAKI. It’s not the composition or recording, there’s an element of the band trying to do too much over the 11 songs.
It is kind of funny that Orange Fang Fang Boys consider themselves an instrumental band, but “READY TO” destroys that. It’s a full-blown rock and punk song complete with vocals. It could be a sign of their evolving direction as the vocals work without a problem and the song itself is one of the best on MERAKI.
Orange Fang Fang Boys have been around for years, but I think generally they’re still early in their artistry. They have amazing foundations and presentation, the focus now is the band’s direction because MERAKI has a ton of possible routes.
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Chris P
Korean Indie owner and Editor at Large. Constantly looking for new music and working on library parity on Spotify and YouTube Music.