The Orchestra (For Now) - Plan 76 EP

The Orchestra (For Now) don't really do chill. 'Plan 76', the band's second EP, follows hot on the heels of 'Plan 75' and feels just as unsettled and restless. It's the sound of a seven-piece letting their instincts lead, veering from orchestral melancholy to full-blooded chaos, and never quite sitting still.

'Impatient' opens with a sinister Radiohead-like sway. It feels live, unpinned, built on impulse rather than precision. The centrepiece, 'Hattrick', is a different beast altogether: visceral and urgent, the band's strings and guitars colliding. It's the best example yet of their "London prog" tag; theatrical but still sharp-edged.

'Amsterdam' offers space, stretching out in a cinematic sweep, while 'The Administration' leans into sorrow, the orchestral flourishes giving it weight. The closer, 'Deplore You / Farmers Market', is the least immediate - wobbly and withdrawn, more for headphones in the dark than a sweaty, packed-out show. But even here, there's a sense of intent, and the visceral switch-up that closes it out is goosebump-inducing.

The band thrive on extremes: collapse followed by calm, beauty undercut by chaos. One minute you're in baroque indie territory, the next it's post-hardcore racket or a jazz-adjacent wobble. They'll probably deny it's any of those things, but that's half the fun.

'Plan 76' doesn't hand out easy answers about where they're heading, and thank god for that. It's messy, ambitious and never less than gripping.