Here's Five: Orchestra Of Spheres

Wellington's otherworldly ensemble Orchestra Of Spheres are releasing their new album Brothers And Sisters Of The Black Lagoon in New Zealand today, which will be followed by an appearance at Rough Peel Music tomorrow as the sole album release show before the four-piece transport themselves across the globe to tour Europe for a couple of months.

The album, which is the group's third, sees the foursome delivering the incredibly eclectic sound they are well-known for, but  threaded with a mood captured from the current climate, as they explain the statement below...

"We're not a political band. We want to make beautiful things and give love to people through sound. Our music bounces off the ground and goes up up up up into the air ... But we're living in dark times. It's a time of remote war, mass deceit and money worship. The mainstream is porn on P. Somehow the mood of the time filtered into these recording sessions, in an abstract way. The songs on Brothers and Sisters of the Black Lagoon aren't 'about' anything. We all feed from the same giant soup of images. Sometimes lyrics bob to the surface and we spoon them to our lips."

Aside from the atmosphere captured by osmosis, the orchestra also shared with us a selection of the sonic influences they were taking on board during recording...

1. Omit - Tracer
Omit is from Blenheim. I've been listening to his music for a long time, since Quad came out in 1997. It took me quite a long time to really get into this album, Tracer. It's so empty, there's almost nothing happening. It's quite astounding. Doing not much is one of the more difficult choices to make in music, and Omit does it brilliantly. I love the vocals in several tunes. I think they come from a tape he found at the Blenheim rubbish dump that had voice recordings for an automated telephone system, saying things like "ASB Bank, Romwood Ave". Really spooky - Baba Rossa

2. Khun Narin Electric Phin Band
I first came across this in 2014 when someone posted this link on Facebook. The image of the dude's double-necked guitar looked intriguing, and the fact that there was very little information about them made them elusive and appealing. Listening to their music and watching their videos, I totally fell in love with their sound, and their seemingly casual way of playing some of the most beautiful and groovy music I had heard in a while. I loved that they all wore matching frumpy bib-type waistcoats and that their PA looked like some sort of dodgy dump shop concoction. I soon got the album and it remained on constant rotation on the stereo for quite some time - EtonalE

3. Constance Demby - 'Om Mani Padme Hum'
I chose this track because I was listening to this at night to help me sleep - Woild Boin

4. Pierre Henry - 'Mouvement-Rythme-Etude'
Some of my all-time favourite music is 'Mouvement-Rythme-Etude', a set of pieces by Pierre Henry. This is a link to a whole album, every track is great in its own right but I always listen to this as a complete work start to finish. The sounds are amazing & subtle, and I like the stilted rhythms in here too. Best through headphones walking around outside somewhere - Mos Iocos

5. Church Universal And Triumphant, Inc. Featuring Elizabeth Clare Prophet - 'Invocation For Judgement Against And Destruction Of Rock Music'
The Church Universal And Triumphant is an American doomsday cult. In the late 80s they believed nuclear war was imminent, sold their belongings, stocked up on weapons and food and prepared to live in underground bunkers for an indefinite amount of time. For some reason they really didn't like rock music, hence the title of this track. This is great stuff. There's another track on the album, 'Decree 10.5', which is half an hour of supremely tranced out vocal chanting - Baba Rossa

Orchestra Of Spheres are performing an instore at RPM in Wellington tomorrow 7th May at RPM to celebrate the release of Brothers And Sisters Of The Black Lagoon. Head over here for more details.