Bobby Oroza – Get On The Otherside [LP]

Bobby Oroza puts his desire for the profound on wax with his sophomore album Get On The Otherside. Musically, he has updated the formula we were introduced to on the first record. But lyrically, songs are bravely rooted in the more complicated, ubiquitous inner tangles of life like self-examination and coming to terms with the vastness of the human experience.

With Coronavirus bringing the world to a halt, Bobbya father and husbandhad to do something. No tours to play or studio time to ll, Bobby found himself back in the construction yard, doing blue-collar work to provide for his family. “I was super grateful for the worka lot of my colleagues didn’t have an option like that,” Bobby admits. More than a few personal hardships forced him to acknowledge and work through some brutal truths.And what came of it? Well, for one, this new record Get On The Othersidewhich pretty well describes what Bobby’s been through: He had to demolish his ego, his old ways of thinking, and his tried approaches to anchor into a refreshed perspective with new understandings.

As Bobby tells it, “I had to do some real self-searching, come to terms with what was wrong, and how much of it I was responsible for.” So how does this translate to the new album? Moments of clarity as to where the real value in life lies on I Got Love, encouraging numbers like the title track The Otherside, and declarations of self actualization on My Place, My Time.Even the more straightforward love songs are outside the box lyrically likeSweet Agony and Loving Body. If you have never had the pleasure of catching one of Bobbys live shows you may have no idea that he is a maverick on the guitar. He lets us in on a little of that on Passing Things with a solo that possesses the same restrained and space that his lyrics do.

As we’d expect, the songwriting still has that raw, direct edge to it. But an evolution has taken place. There are new points of view on familiar territory which in Bobbys words “For me to love, I needed to take a bigger view of love. One with less ego and more empathy really hold true. The result is a record with Bobbys new found humility on full display and a message of encouragement to anyone who is struggling and cant see a way out.

It still may be hard to nail down and dene Bobby and his sound. He’s no one thing more than the other. But what he’s showing us now, on Get On The Otherside, is that we can also label him a soulful, philosophical optimist.Someone who can say a lot with a little, and who wants us all to know that it’s us that has to do the hard lifting to truly live a life in loveboth with the world and with yourself.

Tracklist:

1. I Got Love
2. Loving Body
3. Bobby’s New Mood
4. The Otherside
5. Soon Everyone Will Know
6. Blinding Light
7. My Place, My Time
8. Sweet Agony
9. Passing Thing
10. Make Me Believe
11. Real Connection
12. Through These Tears ^1.13

UPC: 349223010312
Label: Big Crown
Release Date: 6.10.22
Format: Vinyl