"...Karen sounds a little like Tanya Donelly or Kim Deal and there’s a sort of unplugged Pixies or even Nirvana sound going on here, albeit with Karen rather than a rough-looking bloke singing...The song Single Hour is another sweet moment worth four minutes and six seconds of anyone’s time. Listen to it while you boil an egg sometime.."
--John Gimblett, Stride Magazine
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"If there was any justice in this world this band would already be indie darlings..."
-- Don Campo, No Pigionholes
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"...simple sounds that give out complex results. Think a stripped down King Crimson fronted by Patti Smith for the foundation of this music."
--John Fuchs, Prognaut
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"...highly organic, artistic, unusual, and strangely beckoning."
--Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover
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"...eight tracks of avant pop movements that really do not follow any traditional rules we are used to..."
--John Siwicki, Comfort Comes
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"Karen’s voice lingers sweetly and most meaningfully on quieter tunes like “Single Hour” and “Midge.” It reverberates more fully on “Walls,” which has a psychedelic, post Velvet Underground feel..."
--Bob Gulla, The Providence Phoenix
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"Herd of Mers is one duo not trying to sound bigger or into drawing attention to themselves for being a cool duo. But they are..."
--Mike Wood, Music Emmisions
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"Fold", my favorite track, somehow brings to mind visions of hobbits & goblins dancin' 'round the pillars of StoneHenge... may not be what they intended, but that's what I see/hear... excellent little tune...this is THE ticket... gets a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from these ol' ears!"
--Rotcod Zzaj, Improvijazzation Nation
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From: Stride Magazine UK
WARMING ONE’S FEET IN SNOW:
REVIEW BY JOHN GIMBLETT

This CD arrived in a batch of what is, frankly, one of the strangest bundle of CDs I’ve ever received at one time. All of the discs are from Canada, and most of them would be described as - for want of a better word - jazz. Experimental jazz, free jazz, jazzy people called Geoff. You get the idea. They were jazz.

A couple of them owed much to Frank Zappa in the Mothers days. I discounted those immediately (actually, I sent them to a mate of mine in Brittany - he’ll love them).

Then there was this disc. As it was so short - 28 mins. - and I was too busy working to eject it and go on to the next one, I ended up listening to it all. I like 28 minute albums: it’s one of the main reasons I like Lemonheads. I like 28 minute gigs too - Jesus & Mary Chain barely got past half of that, and they were all the better for it. Crikey, I’ve seen bands who played single songs that lasted longer than twenty-eight minutes!

The cover of this CD attracted me too: it’s a simple painting done on watercolour paper - Karen did the artwork. It reminded me straight off of the sleeve of a Kevin Ayers LP I used to own. To be honest, this music doesn’t sound a million miles away from that music either. Well, it does. But it doesn’t. It’s quite pastoral, the painting - like the music, full of space and fresh air to breathe.

Herd of Mers consists of two people, who I assume are a married couple as they share a surname. They might be brother and sister. John Orsi plays drums and percussion and Karen plays everything else; she also writes the songs. The guitar is acousticwith- attitude and the drums sound like a Spongebob kit I saw in the window of a local music shop here in Newport. That isn’t a criticism: they sound great. Being so close physically, this has given the Orsi pair a musical tightness that surely goes beyond just a lovely, bare production sound. Hail to the producer and engineer! Actually, I see from the sleeve that they did that too. Clever buggers.

Each track (there are eight, the longest a tad over 4 mins. the shortest a little under 3) is pretty similar to every other, but this makes the album stronger. It works as a “suite” of songs (does that make me sound like an old hippie?) though to be honest I can’t understand most of the lyrics. It’s a sort of droning, American (sorry, Canadians - put it down to my ignorance) sound, though there’s an un-mistakable French tone to the whole thing. Unlike some of the aforementioned CDs, this doesn’t involve accordions or trying to sound like Frank Zappa.

Karen sounds a little like Tanya Donelly or Kim Deal and there’s a sort of unplugged Pixies or even Nirvana sound going on here, albeit with Karen rather than a rough-looking bloke singing.

It would be difficult for me to pick a stand-out track from this set as they work as an album rather than a straightforward collection of (unrelated) songs. The last track, Awhile, begins with a smooth strummed guitar intro. accompanied by what sounds like bongos, but almost certainly isn’t. Their production assistant Daphne Dakota adds some “wayward” vocals to the song. Her name suggests she might have been in a garage band at some time, or even played a small part in a David Lynch film. Her backing vocals have that breathy texture that warm my feet, especially good at the moment seeing as how there’s snow on the ground.

Still on that last track, there’s some buzzing lead guitar licks too (as we used to say in the last century), and it’s quickly become my favourite song of the moment, though I’m not sure I could hum it to order. The song Single Hour is another sweet moment worth four minutes and six seconds of anyone’s time. Listen to it while you boil an egg sometime. As Karen sings in it:

Could you be the one that's always there
Caught between the wonder or despair

And that’s made me want to finish this now and play the mighty Husker Dü’s Could You Be The One? You’ll probably never see this album in a shop, but you might feel intrigued enough by my vague account of it to have a look for them online and even buy a copy (say hello to Daphne for me). Perhaps you’ll catch them via the website I heard a BBC Radio 4 presenter call Facepack this week. You know the one.

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From No Pigionholes
Reviewed by Don Campo

The Best of 2008
Herd Of Mers/ Aurora Caught Napping/ it’s Twilight Time CD

If there was any justice in this world this band would already be indie darlings but still they languish in obscurity. Karen Orsi’s charming voice is the perfect foil for John Orsi’s varied but subdued instrumental backings which are mostly stripped down but occasionally rise with dramatic flourish. This is what’s good about home recording to me. Very human, very personal and very, very good.

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From Prognaut
Reviewed by John Fuchs
October, 2008

herd of mers
AURORA CAUGHT NAPPING
(IT'S TWILIGHT TIME)

The Review: The debut record from a new band called Herd Of Mers, ‘Aurora Caught Napping’, can be a hard thing to categorize musically. They don’t sound like anyone, past or present. The music Karen and John Orsi create here is on the angular side at times and then quite somber others with the same intensity. Karen provides the, almost Fripp-like at time, guitars and the beautifully haunting vocals and John does all the percussion.

They get their music across in such a way that keyboards or additional band members aren’t needed. There is never a need to out do each other or showcasing. Just some simple sounds that give out complex results. Think a stripped down King Crimson fronted by Patti Smith for the foundation of this music.

Herd of Mers’ debut ‘Aurora Caught Napping’ while being under 30 minutes, says more than some bands that produce double the amount of music. I would recommend this band to fans of King Crimson, Patti Smith and similar acts.

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on October 3rd, 2008

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From The Big Takeover
Reviewed by Jack Rabid
May, 2008

herd of mers
AURORA CAUGHT NAPPING
(IT'S TWILIGHT TIME)

Here's a new tentacle of Providence, RI artist/music collective It's Twilight Time whose principals delve into off-the-beaten-path music. Here mainstay John Orsi is in supporting role, rattling drums in percussive mode more than keeping beats behind his missus Karen Orsi, who croons and plays clipped dirty guitar and bass. Originally known as Midge in 1995, the duo play more minimalist pop than either ITT or the pair's past work together with more atmospheric dreampoppers Overflower (or John's instrumental Incandescent Sky). There are no gothic touches, just Karen scraping at her guitar forming little pattern chords and singing a bit like a more tuneful Kim Gordon doing Karen Carpenter. Everything seems cold and softly lit, slightly nerve-wracking in its quietude--it's a steadily pernicious quiet that can get under your skin over eight cuts. It's highly organic, artistic, unusual, and strangely beckoning. (overflower.com)

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From Comfort Comes
Reviewed by John Siwicki
May, 2008

"Aurora Caught Napping" is the debut record by Providence duo Karen and John Orsi. "Aurora Caught Napping" is a strong lo-fi record that is also very rhythmic. The record is eight tracks of avant pop movements that really do not follow any traditional rules we are used to. The record starts off with an array of guitar noises on “Dirty Shows.” Karen sings very much like PJ Harvey at times with that quiet and throaty vocal. “Fold” is a track that sounds very minimal at first but there is a lot going on here. The song features a shaker mallet and some really big sounding drums. The title track follows and it does have a few similar tones as the previous song did so I thought at first this was still “Fold.” “Keep” is the only track on the album that has any type of conventional approach to it. Typically, you only get a track or two not following the conventional approach. It is cool to hear an album that does not feel the need to fit its style into a box. The band sounds like they are just make a record the way they wanted to. “Auroa Caught Napping” will be a tough listen for some but this record has a lot of fascinating moments and surprises at every track.

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From The Providence Phoenix
Reviewed by Bob Gulla
April 30, 2008

Herd of Mers
John Orsi (Overflower) has been creating noisy, wandering, evocative, often beautiful music for a long time. Karen Orsi, his significant other and collaborator, takes control of the material here for the first time on her band Herd of Mers’ debut, Aurora Caught Napping (It’s Twilight Time, at overflower.com), and she exhibits even more delicacy and restraint, though with slightly more conventionality. There’s air and space between most of her notes — all of which are supplied by the duet on guitar and drums. Karen’s voice lingers sweetly and most meaningfully on quieter tunes like “Single Hour” and “Midge.” It reverberates more fully on “Walls,” which has a psychedelic, post Velvet Underground feel. Aurora Caught Napping is a searching work, with lots of solid ideas. For me, the prettier moments work best.

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From Music Emissions
Reviewed by Mike Wood
April 18, 2008

Debut record by Providence duo Karen and John Orsi. Driven equally by the power of Karen's angular guitar and impressionist lyrics, and John's percussion work, "Aurora Caught Napping" is a lo-fi, occasionally post-punk but always grounded in rhythmic structures that guide you through the outbursts. The title track, especially, as well as "Dirty Shoes" feature brittle guitar lines that threaten to erupt and overshadow the softly chanted words, but remain just enough at bay for tension's sake. "Karen Orsi's stripped down yet evocative playing on "Walls" recalls the rude harmonics of "Cold Turkey" era Lennon, though much more controlled.

The guitar/percussion interplay keeps that line straddled between chaos and brooding that make this a satisfying record. John Orsi' tribal grooves keep equal pace on "Fold," and take over at surprising moments on "Midge."

Herd of Mers is one duo not trying to sound bigger or into drawing attention to themselves for being a cool duo. But they are. They create and disturb space with equal intensity, often leaving the listener wondering whether to lean in closer to hear what's up or to take a wise step back. Either way, Aurora Caught Napping" may make you dreamy, but you'll sleep with one eye open for sure.

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From Improvijazzation Nation
Reviewed by Rotcod Zzaj
April 2008

Herd of Mers - AURORA CAUGHT NAPPING: Our friends from www.overflower.com (as in John & Karen (Riendeau) Orsi, who have been submitting stuff to us for a long, long time now) definitely "changed the mood up" on us... after 3 or 4 jazz wonders in a row, this is a pleasant diversion into rockin' psychedelia, to be sure. The percussion on the title track opens with the same kinda' fugue you might hear/feel when YOU were being awakened; a haunting piece, no doubt. The way they blend the excellent drums into the guitar/vocals on "Fold", my favorite track, somehow brings to mind visions of hobbits & goblins dancin' 'round the pillars of StoneHenge... may not be what they intended, but that's what I see/hear... excellent little tune. There's a hypnotic quality (as with some of John's earlier CD's) that runs all through the music, & Karen & John clearly enjoy doing their (highly talented) vocals together. Jazzheads may not find this their cup o' tea, but for those who like to rock ev'ry once in a moon's passage, this is THE ticket... gets a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from these ol' ears! Get more information at the web site above! Much FUN! Rotcod Zzaj

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