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Orchestra Of Spheres, ATP Nightmare Before Christmas

Live Reviews

After heavy doses of Serious Music, it's endearing to find a band who appear to be having such a bloody good time on stage.

11th December 2011, Butlins, Minehead / By Simone Scott Warren
Orchestra Of Spheres, ATP Nightmare Before Christmas

Orchestra Of Spheres, ATP Nightmare Before Christmas, by Simone Scott Warren

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ATP is effectively the musician's festival. Bands watch other bands. No one feels the need to play a set filled to the brim with the 'hits'. In some senses, it's the epitome of self indulgent – heck, some bands even get to choose the entire line up on their own whims. And that can leave a lingering scent of it being terribly studious, in spite of the stench of hot dogs and the sounds of air hockey punctuating the air downstairs. There's a reason for that reputation as the festival of beardos in Christmas jumpers staring at one man and his laptop. Because this is ATP, and despite the venue, we are Serious.

So when a band takes to the stage with a man in a big dress and a glittering cone hat on, well, you're already in an alternative ATP reality. When the rest of the band join him, they're also clothed the kind of finery that Kirsty Allsop could only dream of teaching the nation to create by hand. And to add to the Blue Peter aesthetic, there's even a guitar made out of a biscuit tin. Probably held together using sticky back plastic.

All this might give off the scent of a ramshackle DIY band, but beyond the costuming and instruments, there's nothing shabby about the Orchestra of Spheres. Infusing tribal chants, psychedelic beats and something the Antipodean band describe as “inner brain clap”, the crowd at Reds are finding their feet involuntarily shuffling to the sound of an electro bass carillion (and yes, we had to google it too), and there's a good deal of grinning and head shaking going on. But even if we bust out our best Saturday night moves, there's no chance we'd be able to match the bands' own fancy footwork, there's some choreographed mayhem being produced for our enjoyment by the appropriately science fiction monikered EtonalE and Mos Iocos.

It's a testament to how much fun this set is, when the time comes for the Spheres' set to clash with the Sun Ra Arkestra upstairs, and the venue does not appear to empty in the slightest. And perhaps fun is the keyword here, because after heavy doses of Serious Music, it's endearing to find a band who appear to be having such a bloody good time on stage. We may never know where Caribou found Orchestra of Spheres, there's every chance that it was on a day trip to Button Moon, but right now, we sure are glad they did. Rating: 8/10
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