Orchestra Of Spheres: Variation Animal Sex Brain Music

Deliciously bonkers return of New Zealand four-piece.

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That title alone turns out to be a fair indicator of Orchestra Of Spheres’ remit. This second opus is a mad rush through almost every genre imaginable, delivered with the kind of ecstatic glee that suggests they’ve either hit on a startling creative revelation or else they’ve been ingesting something rather potent.

If it’s freewheeling cowboy-metal you’re after, look no further than Smash Hit #1. For handclapping techno, see Mind Over Night. The trippy Bogan In The Forest is world music gone gaga, packed with a bongload of tribal beats and vocals that sound like someone speaking in tongues to a tree. There’s something of Wire’s nervy energy on Jungle Pads; wed to a Teutonic gait and pattering keys, the flashing psych-punk licks of Journey are totally irresistible.

Orgiastic dance rhythms abound on Electric Company, while Numbers is an altogether more retro exercise in post-80s synth-pop. With its call-and-response leads, it’s one of the few tunes here that dares to approach anything conventional.

For the most part, these are instrumentals that seem intent on trying everything on for size, with most of vocals being wordless intonations that add to the surrealistic whole.

Rob Hughes

Freelance writer for Classic Rock since 2008, and sister title Prog since its inception in 2009. Regular contributor to Uncut magazine for over 20 years. Other clients include Word magazine, Record Collector, The Guardian, Sunday Times, The Telegraph and When Saturday Comes. Alongside Marc Riley, co-presenter of long-running A-Z Of David Bowie podcast. Also appears twice a week on Riley’s BBC6 radio show, rifling through old copies of the NME and Melody Maker in the Parallel Universe slot. Designed Aston Villa’s kit during a previous life as a sportswear designer. Geezer Butler told him he loved the all-black away strip.