The Greener Pasture, singer-songwriter Peter Oren's second release on Western Vinyl, is a thinkpiece handcrafted in the solitude of a remote cabin near Nashville, Indiana. Featuring the soft embrace of Oren's deep baritone voice, much of the record presents as a gloomy reflection of the surroundings and solitude he found himself in.
The record focuses on the idea that the twenty-first century has found humanity growing increasingly inward, bracing for its inevitable implosion. Album highlight "Free" features Oren's stunningly vulnerable delivery underpinned by a dreary sense of foreboding, wrapped in a cautionary tale about a cow's longing for freedom, while the title track features a mild electronic beat, but with a decidedly country-folk twist.
Although the arrangements and instrumentation are suitably sparse to drive Oren's point home, it's worth noting that he was helped by a series of collaborators who submitted their contributions over the internet, which makes moments like the phone-decrying "Whole World" come off as borderline self-righteous. It's a bare bones and soul baring record paired with Oren's hermitic production style, but is itself unable to fully escape the trappings of modernity to get the job done.
(Western Vinyl)The record focuses on the idea that the twenty-first century has found humanity growing increasingly inward, bracing for its inevitable implosion. Album highlight "Free" features Oren's stunningly vulnerable delivery underpinned by a dreary sense of foreboding, wrapped in a cautionary tale about a cow's longing for freedom, while the title track features a mild electronic beat, but with a decidedly country-folk twist.
Although the arrangements and instrumentation are suitably sparse to drive Oren's point home, it's worth noting that he was helped by a series of collaborators who submitted their contributions over the internet, which makes moments like the phone-decrying "Whole World" come off as borderline self-righteous. It's a bare bones and soul baring record paired with Oren's hermitic production style, but is itself unable to fully escape the trappings of modernity to get the job done.
