Alexander Ortega
Wallwalker EP
Self-Released
Street: 08.08
Alexander Ortega = Leonard Cohen + Nick Cave + Huun-Huur-Tu

You may have seen SLUG Magazine’s Managing Editor, Alexander Ortega, playing around town, including Friday night in-store local-band appearances at Diabolical Records and the busking area at the Craft Lake City DIY Fest. Now, his musical ability has coalesced into a three-song EP that is diverse enough to demonstrate several facets of his talent. “Broken Color System” uses some nimble finger-picking in minor tonalities as an intro to the foreboding “Year Of The Snake,” in which the vocals are sung in the overtone manner of Tuvan throat singers—with its sinister lyrics, it’s quite effective. “Inside Every Soul” tells of a meeting with Satan, and Ortega’s strumming adds urgency. His melodies and chord progressions are slightly repetitive, but one could imagine them as metal or punk rock arrangements that sound pretty cool, too. There’s a wildness that is contained within the acoustic guitar singer/songwriter format that makes it even more powerful. –Stakerized!