Unknown Mortal Orchestra NZ Shows
After tearing it up all over the US this year, Unknown Mortal Orchestra are heading our way for the summer, announcing their first NZ shows. Lead by The Mint Chicks' Ruban Nielson, the clan will play Auckland and Wellington in December.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra first appeared around a year ago, more a song than a set, more an idea than an identity. They dazzled all who heard them, with sound drawing on the freedom of '60s psychedelia and swampy '70s funk, with multi-tracked, heavily treated vocals recalling the raw emotion of R&B from any era.
The songs filtered around via e-mail and then blogs, but there were no images, no bios, no lists of band members with prior projects prominent. There wasn't even a live show - which just served to focus attention on the music. And while New Zealanders who heard it instantly suspected a Mint Chicks connection, overseas the slate remained blank: "Information essentially doesn't exist, aside from it being a solo project hailing from Portland," said I Guess I'm Floating, summing up the absence.
In time it became more solid, and conventional in a sense. A 7" was released on a UK label named The Sounds of Sweet Nothing, which sold out in a heartbeat. Tour dates were announced, and while the crowds were small, all who bore witness lapped up the now-three piece's sound.
Nielson, along with teen wunderkind Julian on Drums and production savant Jake on bass, release Unknown Mortal Orchestra's self-titled debut to the world, via Fat Possum, in the US and Seeing Records in New Zealand.
Make sure you catch this special project's first appearance on home soil.
TOUR DATES
Friday 16 December
San Francisco Bath House, Wellington
Saturday 17 December
King's Arms Tavern, Auckland
Tickets available at http://www.undertheradar.co.nz
