ORTON Releases New Track 'Amongst Us' Taken From His Debut EP 'Sparring'

Words: ROBIN MUMFORD

Just for a moment, imagine that feeling. Imagine that very feeling you get sometimes when you are floating above the dappled seaborne clouds, you’re intoxicated, straddling upon the very seams of cloud nine. Now add a sound to those feelings and you’ll probably end up with something that sounds very much like Orton’s new track ‘Amongst Us’. 

Voyaging along the waves that follow the ilk of Slowdive and The Cocteau Twins, Orton, the alias of UK producer Will Crumpton, is forging his own signature into the shoegaze archives, evolving the genre into new and exciting chapters. Before he releases his debut EP ‘Sparring’ at the end of the month, he shares his pacified new single.

‘Amongst Us’ is a song that Orton created as a coping mechanism for self-doubt and lack of confidence within himself. He explains: “’Amongst us’ was a big anomaly for me. Usually, my songs go through several incarnations before I find a final form of it.

“It was written in the middle of the night on New Year’s Day, and it remained pretty unchanged from that point. For me, it was a way of processing a lot of the social anxiety I felt over the previous few months. I could see myself reflecting other people’s personalities because I wasn’t particularly happy with my own and I always found myself battling that feeling that I was far from being the best version of me.”

Photo: Rob Leedell

Having spent years working with bands from RCA Records, Primary Talent, Sony Music and touring, producing and working in music venues, Will’s focus has now shifted to his own musical ventures: lo-fi driven production, often resulting in complex arrangements of instrumentation, ethereal soundscapes, and driving melodies. 

Taking leaves out of the books of bands that experimented with the iconic shoegaze sound of the 80’s and 90’s, Orton augments the genre with modern adaptations and personal stories that inflict an essence of realism to the mostly dreamy impression the music leaves on its listeners. While riding the waves of the ripples in the clouds, ‘Amongst Us’ digs a whole lot deeper than what is shown on the exterior.