B-Side Guys

Political music often falls into predictable traps—didactic proclamations or vague platitudes that sacrifice artistry for message. San Jose-based Orbit 17 avoids these pitfalls entirely with “Texas,” a track that transforms headline-making legislation into hushed conversations between parent and child, creating an emotional immediacy that statistics and policy debates simply cannot achieve.

The genius of “Texas” lies in its deliberate restraint. Rather than explicitly naming the anti-transgender legislation that inspired the song, vocalist Jamie Brite delivers lines like “It’s just one rule/Wait now it’s two/How many more/Before we’re through?” with a quiet devastation that communicates both parental protection and mounting dread. This approach—specific enough to convey genuine experience yet universal enough to resonate beyond—demonstrates sophisticated songwriting rarely found in politically-inspired music.

Musically, the track embodies its thematic tension through contrasting elements. The band’s signature blend of digital and analog sounds mirrors the song’s central conflict between technological progress and regressive politics. Misha Guiffre and Cliff Nichols create a sonic landscape that shifts between comforting and unsettling, with production choices that enhance the narrative arc from contemplation to decision.

What makes “Texas” particularly affecting is how it captures internal family dialogue amid external political chaos. When Brite sings “You were a breath of fresh air/You’re a beacon in the night,” the delivery conveys not just parental love but fierce protection. Later, the question “What goes on inside your head?” communicates the helpless empathy parents feel watching their children face societal rejection.

The repeated refrain of “What will it take to put my mind at ease” builds not toward resolution but toward decision—a family choosing to “float anywhere the wind blows” rather than stay where safety is increasingly threatened. This nomadic uncertainty is captured in both lyrical content and the track’s restless arrangement, which never fully settles into comfortable patterns.

For a band that explores “unusual territory for popular music,” Orbit 17 demonstrates remarkable accessibility with “Texas.” Their bedroom recording approach (the band’s debut LP was created entirely in Brite’s bedroom with minimal equipment) lends authenticity to a song about making life-altering decisions within intimate domestic spaces.

“Texas” serves as evidence that political music works best not when it shouts but when it invites listeners into private moments where public policy becomes devastatingly personal.