Five years after legal trouble prevented the official release of their debut album ‘Inside The Optimist’, Dublin trio OrphanCode are back. Having taken two years off from performing live, the indie rockers have returned from their hibernation with the release of their sophomore album ‘I Am A Country’. Short and sweet with only nine tracks and coming in at a respectable thirty four minutes, they clearly have aimed for quality over quantity.

However a bad choice of opening song Friendly Fire fails to instantly ignite interest. It’s a pleasant enough track but it just plods along, almost with a sense of restraint. Anti-Trust is the first track in which the band seems to almost let themselves go; they touch on an epic sound yet it still feels somewhat reigned in. Slower acoustic track My Meaning, Your Feelings, shows off OrphanCode’s greatest asset, Rob Davis’ caramel vocals. While The Girl Whose Eyes Stopped The War has an incredibly familiar sound to it from first listen.  It’s a clear choice for next single, having the most radio friendly feeling of any of the tracks on the album..

The main issue with the album is it is just too safe. Without doubt OrphanCode are a band who have a lot to offer, as anyone who has witnessed one of their live performances will agree, but for some reason they seem to have veered on the side of caution with this release. It isn’t a bad album by any means, however for a band capable of so much more at many times ‘I Am A Country’ just feels a little bland. A solid release overall, but nothing spectacular.