Official Bio

Under his moniker Orillia, Andrew Marczak follows the long tradition of folk music’s more progressive stewards, commanding audiences with his unique bracing tenor and skeletal arrangements. His debut self-titled record, which was tracked completely live, acoustic, and straight to tape at Jamdek Recording Studios in his hometown of Chicago, marries the quotidian poetry of Sam Shepard with the direct, sparkling twang of 90s alt-country.

His self-titled debut record was self-released in November of 2024 with a full-band release show at the Hideout in Chicago, followed by a 9-day duo tour across the Midwest in January. An East Coast US/Canada Tour and European Tour are in the works for late summer of 2025. 

With his various projects, including indie rockers Roof Dogs (Earth Libraries) and dark country rockers Toadvine, Andrew has shared stages with artists like dehd, Richard Lloyd (of Television), queer country pioneers Lavender Country, Country Westerns, Tobacco City, shame, Vundabar, and comedian Fred Armisen. He performed at Spencer Tweedy’s Avrom Farm Party in 2024 and has been a part of the storied Cosmic Country Showcase in Chicago. His song "No One" was featured on the soundtrack of the film Poser, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2021.

PRESS

"Orillia makes the sort of thoughtful, raw, and authentic music that's needed in today's complicated world… "

- Britt Julious, The Chicago Tribune

“Pontoon Boat” is an energetic folk strummer that finds Marczak building atop a sparse and spacious arrangement, filling it with jangly acoustic chords and his own warm tenor. It brims with easygoing charm and keening melodies, encircling Marczak’s vocals in a rush of twangy, urgent guitar strums and wistful mandolin chimes. Meanwhile, beneath the pastoral sheen, the track’s lyrics paint a faintly nostalgic picture of wayward young adulthood: “Do you have a pontoon boat that we can rent / Just for the season? / Gonna get a big girl job at the hotel bar / It’s gonna make me life so easy / Got any more of that? / I can’t get my act together / Mom stopped sending money / Way back in December / What can you stand to lose / Just in one summer?”

- Caleb Campbell, Under The Radar Magazine

Despite the relatively minimal arrangement, the songs of Orillia are noticeably varied–there’s some traditional folk music, some classic country-indebted songwriting, pin-drop quiet ballads, and sunny anthems in the brief (eight songs and twenty-five minutes, not counting an alternate take of “Cannery Row”) LP. Even though only five of the record’s songs are originals, Orillia nonetheless serves as a strong advertisement for Marczak’s songwriting, and the record feels like a small group of people eager to get a collection of songs they’re excited about down to tape.

The ambient sounds of rain and thunder roll underneath Orillia’s soft-launch opening track, a version of the song “My Rifle, My Pony, and Me” from the 1959 western Rio Bravo. As insular as “My Rifle, My Pony, and Me” is, the first original song “Pontoon Boat” is in another world entirely–we’re greeted by Joellenbeck’s bright mandolin playing and some excitedly-strummed acoustic guitar to launch us into what’s just an excellent song (I’m torn between “There’s a cave in Kentucky where the snakes all know my name” and “Gonna get a big-girl job at the hotel bar, it’s gonna make my life so easy” for my favorite part of the track).

- Rosy Overdrive

…Marczak took a trip a hiking trip with friends out west – a setting historically linked with the concept of fresh starts – coming upon the town of Miles City, Montana, which left an impression on the musician that continued to resonate far beyond the relatively limited time he spent there. On the stop, Marczak ate a quick, forgettable lunch at Taco John’s and walked parts of the depressed town, which included what he described as “a strange, reservoir swimming area.

A year later, the bruised emotions surfaced as Marczak toured Miles City reemerged in “Things,” a lovingly weathered country ballad he wrote in a few minutes, and which in many ways serves as the emotional backbone of the self-titled debut record from Orillia, released in November. “I caught a train to Miles City/And its rolling, lifeless hills,” he sings. “An emblem of contrition/Years of Dionysian thrills.”

- Andy Downing, Matter News