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Live Virtual Session: Sorry

Sorry - Live Virtual Session
Sorry - Live Virtual SessionMPR graphic / photo courtesy of Sorry

by Mac Wilson and Caleb Brennan

July 15, 2020

"It's your choice, just know I adore you," sighed Asha Lorenz and Louis O'Bryen during their at-home performance. Lorenz and O'Bryen, the founding members of the British post-punk outfit Sorry, joined Mac Wilson for a digital, 3-song set and interview with The Current.

Despite being all the way across the pond, the band's stripped-down, bedroom format proved amicable to the circumstances. There's a mercurial dissonance to their debut record, 925, that was maintained in the simple, two-guitar rendition of their latest tracks. One moment, Lorenz is humming lyrics about alienation with an observant eye, only to be countered by the cynical realism of O'Bryen's Anglo-ridden apathy.

This dynamic shines through most notably on "Perfect," the record's most blunt, yet infectious rock tune. While playing the track for The Current, the rock-club drums and ambitious production of the original song are replaced with 808 beats and slightly detuned, minimal guitars. Lorenz is almost breathless, explaining her contradictions in murmurs to a mic mounted on a stack of novels; O'Bryen's caustic chants, on the other hand, sneak into the foreground.

The seesaw effect Sorry creates--one that balances aggression with compassion--is the ideal means of demonstrating the current mood in the British rock scene: We're all waiting for the world to end, so just get it over with already.

And while Sorry's music feels a bit misanthropic, they're not exactly a band that thrives on being insular. "We're all pretty close to be honest," Lorenz told The Current. "But tensions always rise between everyone because it can get stressful," she said. "It's nice to have other people in the band so if stuff does get hard you can talk to someone else." added O'Bryen.

The sentiments expressed by Lorenz and O'Bryen aren't simply pablm--they're entirely earnest. It's clear that behind their post-modern affectations that they genuinely do feel comradery, not just for their bandmates and contemporaries, but for their London community as a whole. Otherwise, they wouldn't seem so irked by the state of things.

Songs Performed


02:30 As The Sun Sets
06:56 Perfect
14:34 Ode To Boy

All three songs are from Sorry's 2020 Domino Records release 925.

Hosted by Mac Wilson
Engineered by Eric Romani
Produced by Jesse Wiza
Article by Caleb Brennan

Sorry - Official Website