Orville Peck is back with ‘Mule’, his first full-length album since ‘Bronco’, the magnificent album that established him as a country star in 2022, although without achieving the commercial success he deserved. ‘Stampede’ came later, but it was a collection of EPs that failed to keep that inspiration alive. ‘Mule’ could be a step in the right direction, at least from what its solid first advance single suggests.
‘Too Little Too Late’ is one of the most rhythmic songs of Orville Peck’s career, thanks to its rockabilly inspiration, in the vein of Buddy Holly and that more classic mix between rock ‘n’ roll and country. The song will surely work as a shot of energy at your concerts, although the composition leaves a slight feeling of a known formula. In any case, at the moment it doesn’t seem like that resounding and wonderful lead single that ‘C’mon Baby Cry’ was a few years ago.
And there is plenty of context. ‘Too Little Too Late’ is a classic breakup and moving on song (“Little too late to wish that you were mine / I’m all alone and, honey, I feel fine”), but it presents an album born from a much darker period, after a suicide attempt in 2023 that, fortunately, did not end in tragedy. Orville has said that he was going through the worst moment of his life, abusing alcohol, and that one night, in a hotel after a concert, he suffered an overdose from which, luckily, he recovered. With this context we will have to listen to ‘Mule’ when it reaches its full length.
