Words by Charlie Brock
The London seven-piece have been making waves in the local scene for some time and it feels as though they’re ready to make 2025 their year. Having recently won the Green Man Rising award, there is significant buzz around the band, especially with a debut single as strong as ‘Wake Robin’.
Credit: The Orchestra (For Now)
Far from traditional songsmiths, The Orchestra (For Now) are avant boundary pushers: their sound is akin to the free-form post-prog that exploded out of the Windmill/Wunderground scene. Having already made a headline appearance at Brixton’s fabled Windmill, the band are drawing comparisons to Black Country, New Road, Squid and Black Midi in the way they mix traditional instrumentation with stabbing string sections and industrial breakdowns. They’re illustrious comparisons, but the single more than justifies the hype.
‘Wake Robin’ itself is an eight-minute epic: highly dramatic and composed of multiple acts, the single weaves and snakes across different sonic territory. Cinematic strings and brushed drums make up the soft opening before weaving into lingering piano-led parts, topped off with wrought, emotional vocals. The number is most similar to different parts of BC,NR’s Live At Bush Hall, but the track breaks down into frantic, breakbeat drums, and anxiety-ridden strings before kicking up a gear with a glorious mid-point crescendo, building like a panic attack.
The second half of the cut plays out in a similar style to its first: flourished string parts are weaved into melancholic verse as the number winds down before building back into a momentous finish. As an opening statement, ‘Wake Robin’ is a quite incredible piece of work, and TOFN have begun to carve out their own niche in the leftfield, alternative, post rock scene.
It’s an utter feast of sonic delight, with each member given appropriate space to express their parts wonderfully: ‘Wake Robin’ is a delight, and a sign of exciting things to come from The Orchestra (For Now).
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