Plan 76 sees The Orchestra (For Now) continue to develop on their maximalist approach to what they have self-described as “London prog”. Combining avant-garde rock theatrics, intricate classical interplay, pastoral baroque indie, post-hardcore dynamics, jazz-tinted freakouts, and everything in between, the EP is an expert-level exercise in tension and release. The elements that made their debut a breakthrough success are still there, the compositions are unpredictable yet unmistakably hook infused, and there are droll references to pop culture and the world surrounding them, but here everything is levelled up, the underpinning fragility wrapped in a shroud of musical confidence that can only come with such wide-eyed ambition. Lead single “Hattrick” perfectly encapsulates their progression. The saturation and contrast have been driven up, the darker corners accentuated, their wider palette more vibrant and colourful. Labyrinthine instrumentation swells and bursts into moments of shamanic vocal power, cinematic strings, a driving rhythm section, and unrestrained guitars, before burning up and giving way to brooding, ruminative verses. Speaking on the EP, the band explain “Plan 76 completes the first story we wanted to tell. It is a continuation of the themes in our first release but placing what we established there in different worlds and situations. Instrumentally speaking it is, to us, more ambitious. Not because we are playing incredibly complicated parts, but the opposite – we tried to refine rather than complicate. There are incredibly exposed moments, where we stripped the instrumentation back (which is not natural for us to do). This EP is also setting the scene for what will come next..” The last couple of years have seen the band on the kind of ascent that most new acts can only dream of. They’d played the main stage at Green Man Festival, appeared at End Of The Road Festival, and played several sold-out headline dates before even officially releasing a single. Having honed their sound on the London live circuit, the band released their much-anticipated debut EP Plan 75 earlier this year igniting a fire amongst critics and their fanbase-cum-congregation alike.
