![i am alive and you are dead i am alive and you are dead](https://img1.grunge.com/img/gallery/the-most-dangerous-active-serial-killers-in-2020/intro-1586373285.jpg)
Orphans & Vandals challenge the expectations and prejudices that reside within listener, if there are any. “I took a girl/I took a boy back the night before last.” The protagonist of the song flips back and forth between the precise gender of his love before stating, “he came all over me”. Its tone is similar to that of Elton Motello‘s Jetboy Jetgirl but far more erudite. The line “when I was 14 years old I slept with a boy who was 21” grabs your attention early on and from here Joshua plays eloquently with the idea of sexual ambiguity in a way that is as forthright as it is slippery. Swelling and moving with emotional rushes like Velvet Underground‘s Heroin or Sister Ray, it pushes and pulls through an emotional rollercoaster of a tune. A tale of love lost, death and the endless pursuit of happiness set to a repeated melody half inched from The Hothouse Flowers song Don’t Go might not sound like the basis for the best song you’ll hear this year, but be prepared to be shocked on just about every level. The centrepiece and spiritual heart of this record can be found in the simply phenomenal Mysterious Skin, a 10 minute extravaganza that sends shivers through the listener. At times these songs feel like an ill advised drunken fumble on a mattress you’ve found in a skip.
![i am alive and you are dead i am alive and you are dead](https://i.redd.it/ll0pffluj9i71.jpg)
Split between London and Paris (the city Joshua relocated to in order to experience more of life), the band explores romance and grime in equal measure. In amongst the harmoniums, accordions, glockenspiels, bowed saws and endlessly repeated guitar motifs, Joshua’s lyrics about disaffection, love, sex and death find themselves in a strange murky world that nonetheless seems strangely welcoming.Īnd what a world it is. Not that this matters a jot, because the musical landscapes that his words populate are beautiful and complement him perfectly – he fits right in. There are occasional hints of vocalising in his style but for the most part, he’s bordering on spoken word, a kind of British Lou Reed. Despite his claims to the contrary, Joshua’s role in the band is very much one of a poet rather than singer. Having recruited a phenomenally talented band (all girls and all multi-instrumentalists) they set to work building songs centred on the poetic meanderings of Joshua. Orphans & Vandals was created by Al Joshua and his bass playing sidekick Raven. You might well disagree, but then the band would have a point with their album title – you are dead. Orphans & Vandals might just be the most exciting band of the year. That’s 6 Music’s problem though, because ultimately they will live to regret this decision in the coming months. Orphans & Vandals managed it on the strength of their lyrics which managed to offend enough people to get a banning from BBC 6 Music. Apparently leaving pensioners messages about deflowering their grand-daughters is not the only thing to get you chucked off radio these days.