The Orielles first caught our attention with their jangly brand of surf-pop last year with their single, ‘Space Doubt’. Now, having received praise from the likes of Steve Lamacq and NME, and spending 2015 headlining gigs across the country, these three teens from Halifax are starting to make quite a name for themselves.

Consisting of sisters Esme and Sidonie, with friend Henry on guitar, The Orielles are skilled at creating sunny melodies, fused with reverb-strewn harmonies and their own trademark sparkling, youthful energy.

Having being featured numerous times on Gigslutz (they were one of our ‘Ones To Watch In 2016‘), The Orielles are now about to release a brand new EP accompanied by plenty more live dates, so James Cummins caught up with the band to find out more…

Hey guys! How are you? And what have you been up to this week?
Hey, we’re great thanks! We have been writing a lot of new material this week so hopefully they’ll be ready for the tour in a few weeks and we’re looking forward to playing ’em!

You’re releasing your new EP Jobin on 1 April, what can you tell us about it?
It features three tracks that we wrote and recorded over the summer with our good friend Chris Warr. They’re all quite differing in style, which is pretty cool because it’s fun for all the family haha!

You’re currently working with the Art Is Hard label, what’s it like working alongside them?
Working with Art Is Hard is really cool because we’ve been digging them for ages now, and also it’s our first label release so things are going a lot smoother than when we used to do all this ourselves.

You’ve got plenty of live dates coming up! What can people expect when they come and see The Orielles?
Good vibes, good supports, the full shebang!

Amongst the dates is a slot over in Toronto for Canadian Music Week, how are you feeling about playing over there?
We’re so psyched to be playing across the pond for the first time and to see some sick bands along the way and sample some of the good Canadian delights such as Baja Blast (their finest bevvy), and hopefully it will be a little bit sunnier that Halifax!

What’s your favourite aspect about the experience of playing live music?
The act of playing live is so addictive to us and definitely the best part of being in a band, we love vibing off the audience and are always up for a party afterwards.

Of course, you are fairly young in comparison to many other bands out there… With people and mediums such as The Independent stating “They might be only just eighteen, but The Orielles demonstrate technical skill and an ability to write catchy garage rock tracks that put many older artists to shame”, how do you find being a younger band in the industry?
We don’t think our age makes a difference to our attitude, the way we write songs or the way we perform. Obviously we like to channel some of our youthful exuberance into how we play, but I think our age is definitely becoming less of an ‘issue’ now.

I’ve heard that two thirds of the band only learnt to play instruments after forming the group – do you think that a passion and drive account for success equally as much as musical talent does?
Yeah definitely! Passion and drive probably account for more of it than musical talent, and the ability to express oneself during the writing process has little correlation to musical talent.

Are there any other bands or artists out there at the minute that you’d urge people to check out?
Loads: Long Limbs, Corey Bowen, The Showers, Chest Pains, Party Hardly, Babe Punch, Lou E, The Persuasion, Trudy, Hers and the Awesome Tapes From Africa gang that release loads of sick driving tunes.

Finally, is there anything else you’d like to add for us?
We’d like to add that the mere existence of mankind is not enough to fuel the flame of life. Mankind needs to express oneself through the medium of music in order to transcend to a celestial level of musical happiness, peace and love. After all, there is no fixed reality, only objects existing in contrast to one another – a statement revealing that passion for music, and one’s connection to it, is paramount for happiness.

Huge thanks to The Orielles for answering our questions!

Jobin, the new EP from The Orielles, is out 1 April via Art Is Hard, and you can catch them live over the next few weeks:

25 March – MANCHESTER Soup Kitchen
26 March – LONDON Tooting Tram And Social Club
31 March – BRIGHTON Bleach
2 April – READING Oakford Social Club
3 April – BRISTOL Lousiana
9 April – LONDON Flying Vinyl Festival