Orba Squara

I heard of this New York based outfit as the unsigned band (actually a one man band) whose song, "Perfect Timing (this morning)", was on the iPhone commercial, a commercial that I had never seen (I don't watch a lot of TV), but after seeing the spot on Youtube, I don't think the song was prominent enough to have caught my ear in the first place (the ad ends before the vocal begins). That's not a putdown of the song itself, far from it, Orba Squara, or Mitch Davis, the man behind the name, has a lot of personality in his music and deserves any attention coming his way for the music he's written and recorded for his debut, sunshyness. You can hear him reveling in the chiming and ringing of the instruments, you can nearly see him smiling, if not hear him, when listening to songs like "Warm Fuzz" and "My Favorite Song". This joy in organic sounds may spring from Davis' abandonment of the electronic gear he was previously playing for the natural beauty of acoustic instruments, which move the air with wood and metal, plus the album's cozy, personal vibe surely emanates from the fact that he was recording these songs for himself. But we wouldn't be hearing of him if he'd kept them to himself, for he then handed out copies to friends and when a copy eventually made it's way to Universal Music Publishing, Davis found himself with four songs licensed by Universal well before the record's self-release date of October 9th. The four being the aforementioned iPhone jingle, plus a new song titled "Brand New Day" which appears in the film comedy "Wedding Daze", and another couple will appear in ads for Goodyear and telecom group Orange. This may all become a little dizzying for the 37 year-old songwriter who pens tracks with titles like "Sunshine", "Stay Around", "So Comfortable", and "Sky Cloud Winter Breeze", but I, for one, hope he keeps his feet on the ground and his music unplugged.

Here's an mp3 from the upcoming album, sunshyness, a song that will surely become someone's favourite song.

"Hey man, you’re singing my favorite song
Hey friend, you’re bringing back better times
Hey there, you know just what to say
Hey kid, that’s just what I needed today"

my favorite song [mp3]

BUY the album at his myspace or homepage.

sunshyness track list
1. Sky Cloud Winter Breeze
2. Perfect Timing (This Morning)
3. My Favorite song
4. Gravel
5. The Only Thing
6. Warm Fuzz
7. Stay Around
8. So Comfortable
9. All Around The World
10. Sunshine