Track by Track: Orchards – Losers/Lovers EP

Lucy: This was the first song that was finished for the record. It was finished in April last year just before we went out on tour, so it really got a trial by fire! We wanted to do something that was really fun, like a proper party, and we think it came out well. “I used to love you too” is the main lyric of this song and that’s exactly what it means; I used to love you, but I’ve realised that I don’t need to and I don’t want to, so I’m leaving the cobwebs behind me and moving on! Fun fact: it was called Girl Code for like a year.

Sam: This was written on the living room floor, bass and guitar plugged into the same amp. After we got the main riffs down, it took ages to actually finish. We like to make sure we’re all 100% certain it’s a banger before we put the ‘FINISHED’ stamp on it and yeah, this took a while. Structurally it’s a little different from our usual stuff, that was an intentional decision to move away from the A, B, A, B format we’ve used before. It’s probably one of my favourite songs to play live, but it’s one of the ones I have to do the most tap dancing on the pedal board for!

Lucy: This is maybe the angriest song on the EP. When we recorded this song, it was so late in the day, and I was so hungry and sleepy that I knew I wouldn’t be able to do many more takes. I honestly gritted my teeth and just punched every word out, and I think that really comes across in the track. You know that melodramatic person that just grinds your gears because they complain about material things? Yeah. That’s this songs point. Fun fact: this used to be named Princess Juice after a drink that I concocted.

Lucy: In its bare bones, this song is the oldest on the EP. It’s had many lives this one! We’ve written it so many ways, it was really math-rock at one point, and then it became this drum and bass ripper, but eventually, we shelved it, and it just sat there for a long time. I’m not too sure why we got it back down (maybe the impending doom of knowing we’d promised people an EP?) but when we went at it with fresh ears it all just seemed to fall into place, and it formed into this little beauty. Take from these lyrics whatever you feel necessary, but it’s a love song, really. It’s honestly that simple. Fun fact: the first time we played it live we fucked it up loads.

Lucy: This is the quickest song that we’ve written and the last song we finished for the EP. It was still getting some changes as we were going into the studio. We had pure festival vibes in mind while writing this one; Sam found a new tone on his Rainbow Machine pedal that just made everything sound like getting drunk in a field, so we ran with it. I’ve spoken quite openly about my struggle with mental health, and for me, this song sums it all up. It’s about learning to accept the person I have become because of the struggles I’ve faced. Mental health is not a lonely fight, but it is something that you have to overcome alone. Only you can accept and love yourself. Self-care and vanity are two very different things (Queer Eye taught me that), and this song is about facing demons and learning to make time to love myself. Fun fact: solo the bass line, and it could be an ABBA track.

Sam: Musically this probably took the least time to write. We didn’t over-analyse it too much; this is going to sound well cheesy, but we just let it sort of ‘take its own path’ – I’m cringing writing that! The bridge is one big drum flex, and it has a guitar solo, so that’s sick. I dislocated my shoulder after doing my guitars (thankfully it was the last song) and the next day I had to play all the keys parts with my arm in a sling.

Lucy: This song sparked the title for the EP. At the start of this year I pinky promised someone I loved that I would be happy. This song is about me learning how to be after I’d lost them. It’s about finding love and happiness after sadness. Fun fact: this song was the working title track of the EP, I’m aware we’ve kind of already told you that…

Sam: So this EP is the five new songs and then our three first singles. We decided to do it this way because we felt our older babies needed to get a physical release. Most of the guitar parts were actually written by Will, and then we all formed the riffs into a cohesive song. It was the first single we released as the new ‘Orchards’, and it all went off. Someone put the video on Reddit, and it got like 30,000 views in a few hours, and until this point the only video we had didn’t even have 7,000 views, so it was awesome to see! I think a lot of fans we have now came from that first surge! Fun fact: it’s named after a car.

Sam: It feels like the intro riff was written like ten years ago now! I guess it was the first time the ‘Orchards’ sound made its appearance, it has that ‘goofy’ noisiness about it, and that’s something we really held on to.

Lucy: If you’ve been to a live show of ours you’ll know what this song is about; I once accidentally punched a bee. I absolutely adore bees and know how imperative they are to our ecosystem. This song is about how we need to start caring about bees a lot more than we do. Don’t take them for granted or they’ll be gone. Fun fact: Honey is the first song people started to sing back to us at our shows!

Sam: This one started from a bass line Daniel came to rehearsal with. This is another one that we shelved for so long. Daniel wrote a chorus melody, and we knew that we wanted to run with that, but nothing around it was working. Lucy just started singing it in practice, and we jokingly started to have a jam on it again. One thing led to another, and we realised we’d finally finished it. Fun fact: the guitar intro is easy, but I had such a mental block for about five months that I had to have my eyes closed to play it.

Orchards’ EP ‘Losers/Lovers’ is out now, order your copy here. The band are also playing Truck, ArcTanGent and more over the summer.