Of The Orchard’s debut album, ‘We’ll Be Okay Tomorrow,’ comes aptly titled in a year unlike any other. With a tinge of millennial angst, the album tells stories familiar to anyone who’s ever been a twenty-something: finding purpose, coming to terms with identities you’ve outgrown, and falling in and out of love.

 

‘We’ll Be Okay Tomorrow’ sounds like 90s and early 2000s rock (Third Eye Blind, Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Eat World, Semisonic, and Matchbox Twenty) paired with narrative, sentimental lyrics (Dawes, John Mayer, Ruston Kelly). This combination means listeners get thoughtful lyricism supported with upbeat, hook-driven rock.

 

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, ‘We’ll Be Okay Tomorrow’ was completely recorded, edited, and mixed in bassist, Alec Thicke’s, basement studio. The final mixes were mastered by the Twin Cities’ finest, Greg Reierson of Rare Form Mastering, who has done past work for Prince, The Cure, Motley Crue, Sufjan Stevens, and Dan Wilson, among many others.

 

‘We’ll Be Okay Tomorrow’ marks the first new music in 3 years for Of The Orchard, though the first songs were all the result of a serendipitous solo project. Spearheaded by Ben Vanden Boogaard, “10 in 10” was a personal challenge for the singer/songwriter to record and release 10 new songs and music videos in 10 consecutive months.  Vanden Boogaard recruited Alec Thicke (bass, vocals), Zach Ward (lead guitar), and Lewis Wethall (drums) to help him accomplish it. Midway through the undertaking, the group meshed so well artistically and enjoyed playing together so much that they decided to make it official. The band named themselves Of The Orchard, which is the Dutch to English translation of Vanden Boogaard.

 

In the years that followed, the band started to settle into their sound and continued to grow more comfortable performing together. The 11 songs on ‘We’ll Be Okay Tomorrow’ show off a newly polished version of Of The Orchard that comes from marrying the individual members’ influences of folk, pop, alt-rock, and pop punk.