Orchestra Of Spheres - Nonagonic Now

Time to go global for pick 'n' mix purveyors of afro-tribal beats, electronic dance, Mali blues, funk, & psych.

Cosmic, infectious, hypnotic, playful and fun. Just some of the words that spring to mind while listening to the debut album from Orchestra Of Spheres. As part of the Frederick Street Sound And Light Exploration Society in Wellington, New Zealand (see link below), the band are well placed to make music that is not tied down by genre restrictions or audience expectations. Part Fela Kuti, part Can, part George Clinton, with hints of psych and avant jazz.

Album opener Hypercube is a fantastic statement of intent, a call to arms for like-minded souls to fly their freak fly high, polyrhythmic drums fighting with call and response chanted vocals, possibly in a made up language. There Is No No follows with desert drone guitar and gamelan giving way to hyperactive bingo-caller vocals. There's even a Celtic folk influence to be detected on Spontaneous Symmetry, its twangy guitar lines courtesy of a biscuit tin guitar. As the album progresses the pychedelic and free jazz elements come to the fore as on the trippy Hypershere and Eternal C Of Darkness, basically Nina Simone meets Delia Derbyshire on the set of The Magic Roundabout.

They come across as a band that takes having fun seriously, as demonstrated by their stage costumes which are as bizarre as their home-made instruments. Mind-expanding and with no comedown.

Click here for Orchestra Of Spheres on Bandcamp.