Last summer, Lou Smith posted a video of The Orchestra (For Now) at The Windmill in Brixton. It’s a tough venue for a band that size. In the vein of bands like Arcade Fire and Black Country New Road, The Orchestra (for Now) crams a whole lot of people on stage, with complicated instrumentation and sprawling, ambitious arrangements.
The video is fairly chaotic, but you can hear something special happening here. Singer and keyboardist Joe Scarisbrick is in full rock star mode even with no commercially released music:
The Lou Smith video was released in August, and it wasn’t until November that the band released their first single, “Wake Robin” (above). And what a debut – it’s a nine-minute journey, with lyrics touching on modern anxieties and authenticity in the age of social media. Musically it’s like a messier, angstier version of something from Arcade Fire’s Funeral: incredible musicianship, gorgeous melodies juxtaposed with furious cacophony, a stream of surprises and a gradual build into something somehow danceable.
The first time I heard it I was in the middle of a long drive, and I played it several times in a row at increasingly higher volume to make out more of the lyrics:
I’ve a plan that will end badly
Like your parents’ divorce, sadly
I’m afraid of who we’ve become
I’m afraid of everyone
It’s an impressive, sophisticated and fully immersive debut single.
The follow up track, “Skins”, was released at the end of January. It’s a trim 4:20, but it feels like a journey, shifting time signatures and intensity a half-dozen times throughout. It’s also got a music video that can’t be described:
The band has built their outsized reputation on the back of their live show. They’ve curated their own playlist of live performances and included a blazing cover of Arcade Fire’s Wake Up. It’s not hard to imagine a live set from this band going on for 90 minutes and ending with everyone in the room somehow in tears.
Last week they released the final single in the runup to the EP Plan 75, due out March 28. “The Strip” is another four minute Broadway-calibre performance, filled with fury and tenderness:
The EP will include unreleased single “Escape from New York”. They’re going to be playing a ton of festivals this summer, so there will be plenty more for us non-Europeans to watch on YouTube. Maybe we’ll get some tour dates in the fall.
