Perhaps Contraption new album 'Mud Belief' due 3 June
Album release: 'Mud Belief' by Perhaps Contraption
Release date: 3 June 2016
Label: Grabby Claw
More info: Band website
Perhaps Contraption are a twisted 9 piece art rock brass band from London. Part chamber orchestra, part choir, part experimental marching band; their sound is something like Steve Reich meeting Frank Zappa and Sufjan Stevens in some sort of punk-jazz collision, staggering through a fairground. The troupe’s intense pop up performances have created a cult-like festival following, and won them the Haizetara International Street Music competition (Spain) in 2014 and 2015, the judge's prize at Cirque et Fanfare Festival (France) and Help Musicians Emerging Excellence Award in 2013.
Full of complex, yet curiously accessible songs, Perhaps Contraption’s new album ‘Mud Belief’ draws upon post-minimalism, jazz, contemporary classical, and blistering avant-rock, all condensed to form detailed, iconoclastic art pop.Recorded at London’s Premises Studios and mastered by Mandy Parnell (Bjork, Dirty Projectors) the album touches upon the joyous and irreverent, the dark and the savage, the oom-pah and the sublime.
Anywhere and everywhere this troupe have bellowed their massive choral harmonies and jubilant, soaring horns. They have led processions upon boats, beaches and mountains, and during the next few months will be completing a London street tour. Spontaneous performances will occur in unusual public spaces around the city (beaches and bandstands included...).
The troupe’s idiosyncratic blend of classical instrumentation with progressive rock and punk ideology has sent them to a diverse range of events including Glastonbury Festival, The London Jazz Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Bestival, Sudtirol Jazz Festival (Italy), The Royal Academy of Arts, Wilderness, CrossLinx (The Netherlands) Latitude, Artisti in Piazza (Italy), Buskers Bern (Switzerland), numerous Honk! Festivals (USA) and touring in Europe with Amanda Palmer.
Whether leading exultant parades, amplified stage shows, or fleeting street performances, Perhaps Contraption create an unforgettable sonic spectacle. Fierce, desperate, yet brimming with hope, ‘Mud Belief’ captures this sensation perfectly and in doing so the band have created their most accomplished and urgent recording to date.