Ortolan

Time on a String (Sounds Familyre)

By Anne C. Johnson
Published: March 27th, 2010 | 1:00pm

New Jersey’s Ortolan is a family act featuring three teenage sisters named Stephanie, Brianna, and Lara … and one sister-in-law, Jill, who herself is in her early twenties. Founding member Stephanie, only 16, defies her age with her aptitude for solid lead vocals and skills in songwriting.

Ortolan recalls the girl groups of the ‘60s minus the immense wall of sound. “Once,” the ‘50s-inspired, reverb-saturated opening track, is a quirky gem that demonstrates Stephanie’s knack for storytelling. Her vocals, mixed with an old-fashioned glow (a la Stephin Merritt and Smoking Popes’ Josh Caterer) and her South Jersey accent are amusing, but soon Ortolan delves completely into youthful soul-searching which becomes less engaging for those already painfully aware that “Sometimes you just can’t do / What you wanna do.”

Ortolan are perfectly charming, but sometimes there’s the feeling that you are listening to an album aimed at pre-teens, which might be more appropriate listening for the Hannah Montana set. One would have to be pretty heartless to not be moved at all. As Stephanie herself agrees, she was meant for something—but Time on a String might not be for you if “the days when you were innocent have past.”

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Ortolan official site

Orlotan MySpace

Sounds Familyre