Rock Music News: The Last Domino - Two Thirds Of Our Lives (2024)

Two Thirds Of Our Lives is singer/multi-instrumentalist John Orr's fourth full-length album as The Last Domino. Written, arranged, and sung entirely by Orr, and co-produced over eleven years with long-time partner Luiza Carvalho. The thirteen-track album follows a broad idea that begins with songs that sound almost dreamy in the narrative (the "Asleep" section), then moves to a more energetic, carpé-diem approach ("Awake"), and lastly to consciousness and acceptance ("Alive"). I love the variety

Musician

Jun 20, 2023 - 16:49

The Last Domino - Two Thirds Of Our Lives

Two Thirds Of Our Lives is singer/multi-instrumentalist John Orr's fourth full-length album as The Last Domino. Written, arranged, and sung entirely by Orr, and co-produced over eleven years with long-time partner Luiza Carvalho. The thirteen-track album follows a broad idea that begins with songs that sound almost dreamy in the narrative (the "Asleep" section), then moves to a more energetic, carpé-diem approach ("Awake"), and lastly to consciousness and acceptance ("Alive").

I love the variety of Two Thirds Of Our Lives. The album starts with an atmospherical intro "One Third: Asleep" in between Pink Floyd and Queensryche that builds up in intensity, leading to the second track "Wake-up Call", very uptempo and energetic (almost punk in some parts!), after a slow start. I love the vocals, melodic but punchy at the same time (the chorus is super catchy). I love also the bass lines and the arrangement of this one. Some Queens of the stone age in the third track "Flylashes" (great drumming, vocals and solo section) and some Stone Sour in "The Heist", very straightforward and super enjoyable.

The second section of the album "Awake", starts with a furious intro, followed by the punky "Constellations Below" (we've got bells, towards the end!) and "Paperweight"(saxophone in the second part!), high energy and uptempo and your foot won't stay still listening to these ones. Almost disco, in some parts, is "Black Jeans, Brown Booze", with a very interesting turn towards the end.

You can hear some prog metal in "Stop Trying to hit me and hit me" (I love the riff!) and "More Christian than Christian", almost Hardcore. Some rest with "Honest to a faultline", a little more introspective and also the longest track of the album. I love when it becomes full band (great acoustic guitars) and I can hear some Pain of Salvation, here.

The third part, "Awake" features only two songs. After almost an industrial intro we got a "bang your head" riff. "The reds of our eyes (two thirds of our lives)", is in between punk and prog, and is one of my favourites tracks of the album, with a crazy finale.

I adore the variety of "Two Thirds Of Our Lives," where you can hear a wide range of inspirations and contamination from this polyhedric artist that is extremely talented in every way. In terms of writing, production, and performance, this is an album of the highest calibre. The length (37 minutes) is ideal. I'm usually complaining about extended albums that have a lot of skip songs or dead/repetitive sections. This is not the case with this album, as every single moment is extremely inspired, engaging, and full of details. In my view, this is one of the finest albums of 2023 so far.

Give it a go by clicking on the Spotify player below and don't forget to follow The Last Domino on social media as well.

The Last Domino - YouTubeThe Last Domino - Instagram

Read More