Audio File: Oracle Sisters Tell A Story Through Divine Rhymes

Written by Anna Porter. Graphic by Anna Porter.

Valentine’s Day was a big day for new music, including releases from Sabrina Carpenter, ROLE MODEL, and The Lumineers. Flying a bit more under the radar was Parisian-based band, Oracle Sisters, with the release of their second album, titled “Divinations.” Not only did I want to highlight them because I love their music, but they also offered me frozen strawberries at a Declan McKenna gig, so I feel like I owe them a review. 

Oracle Sisters, despite what you may guess, is not a band made up of sisters. The band is actually composed of three members who were childhood friends, all originating from different countries. Now, the band resides in Paris, where they create bright, lush music that will tickle your sense of sound. While their first album has a good number of upbeat indie-pop songs, I would say this second album strips it back a little bit. The lyrics feel more poetic to me and focused on the aesthetic sensation you feel when a sequence of words comes together to make something new.

Under the surface of these beautiful lyrics is a deeper storyline, hinted at by the circular album art. At first, listen, I was already relating this album to seasons– the music felt like the perfect “spring morning” to me. After reading more of the lyrics, I noticed that the first half of the songs have imagery related to mornings, and the second half has songs pertaining to the night. Additionally, there seems to be a central “narrator” that progresses in age as the album moves along, and the seasons described go from spring to winter as the narrator progresses through his life. I’m sure this was a purposeful decision, partly because the album cover is a wheel split up into different colors, which could represent the cycle of a day, a year, or a lifetime. 

The opening song, “Riverside,” opens with a slow, twangy instrumental and the lyrics, “early in the morning // open up the window \\ set songbirds free.” This song has a very nice build and feels like a great entrance into the descriptive world that Oracle Sisters are painting. The next track, titled “Marseille,” is one of my favorite songs (maybe because I’m weirdly attached to it since I went to Lacoste,) but most likely because it’s one of the more upbeat and groovy songs on the album. The sound of this is true to Oracle Sisters’ already established style.

“Alouette” is one of my favorite songs as well, because of the beautiful writing. It is vague enough to where I can’t quite interpret if there is an underlying storyline, but I like it all the same. Some of the lines such as “The pirates sing their song // The owls and the artists // And they all sing along” make me lean towards the idea that the narrator is playing outside on a beautiful day as a child.

The album begins to temporally progress in “Blue Left Hand,” as the narrator establishes that he is now a young adult. In the song “Velveteen,” there is a line that explains that the future is unfolding and that they want to look into the future, referencing the album title– divination is a way of using magic to see the future. 

In the song “Rodeo,” the narrator seeks a different life by joining the rodeo, but the album settles down again in the song “Moon On The Water.” This one is another favorite of mine, again because of the pretty lyrics, and the way they are delivered in almost a sing-songy, simplistic way. “Hail Mary // Wild honey pie // Who’s your robin hood? // She’s running with the wolves.” Near the end of the song are the lines, “Sunday singer // Elementary boy // Take it from me // You’re not the only one.” At this point in the album, I’ve gathered that the narrator has now had children and fallen in love, and this love interest is mentioned more in the next two songs.

According to the way I have interpreted this album as a progression of someone’s life, there are two paths that the final song, “Divinations,” can take. The line “High on the clouds // He’s been pulling those powers” seems to mention a God-like figure. Throughout the song, the words “In a dream // Bye bye // It’s all been a dream” make me think that either the character is dying, or has finished their process of looking into the future through divination and nothing that happened in this album was actually real. I think the latter concept is most likely because of the album title, giving us a clue into what the overall album is about. Sonically, I love this song, and it reminds me of MGMT’s record, “Loss of Life.” The falsetto vocals and descending harpsichord tie directly to MGMT’s style, as do the lyrics that reflect deeply on the meaning of life. 

Now that I’ve decoded the rather ambiguous lyrics of this album into a more holistic storyline, I’m looking forward to digging deeper and more fully understanding the narrator’s story. If my theories are true, I am very impressed by Oracle Sisters’ deep album, both sonically and lyrically, and can safely say that they didn’t fall into the sophomore album curse. My next task is to find a crystal ball to see what their musical future holds!