Since releasing The Orchid Days in 2014, L’Orange has felt the highs and lows of life’s roller coaster.
On one hand, he’s seen his stock rise with his Koala EP and joint projects alongside Mr. Lif (The Life & Death of Scenery), Kool Keith (Time? Astonishing!) and Jeremiah Jae (The Night Took Us In Like Family). But on the other, a more serious hand, he’s been dealing with a two-year saga in which a series of tumors grew in his right ear, leading to near total deafness on that side. Surgeries left him off-balance and fear started to take over, causing self-doubt about his future in music and whether or not he’d be able to regain the totality of his gift. Fighting through it, L’Orange kept pushing and has now released one of his most poignant bodies of work with his new album.
Released by the good folks at Mello Music Group, The Ordinary Man chronicles the narrative of a magician who discovered late in life that his peers weren’t actually pulling rabbits from hats. Crestfallen and disillusioned, he digs deeper to push his own show into uncharted territory, demonstrating ostensibly impossible feats for crowds too terrified to ask for the reveal.
As the audience gradually realizes that his practice of the dark arts isn’t fraudulent, people from all around the world flock to him. Unfortunately, this loyalty to what he was rather than what he did becomes patronizing and dull—engendering a bitterness and disenchantment that leads him to finally disappear in front of millions of stunned onlookers.
Kicking off with “Look Around” with Oddisee, the album rollout also included “The Difference” with Blu and eLZhi, and an incredibly creative video for “Blame the Author” with Del the Funky Homosapien. And now, the North Carolina-based producer comes through with The Ordinary Man in its entirety.
Described as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice but far more soulful and “what Harry Houdini would bump if he was a hip hop head,” the album can be heard below. Press play and be sure to add it to your preferred streaming platform.
