1000 Tiny Birds: 2025 edition

The Orchestra (For Now) (+Ebbb)

The Exchange, 2025-11-20

I had mixed opinions of The Orchestra (For Now), the default drain point of Black Country New Road fans still angry that Isaac Woods left, from listening to this year’s EP, and seeing them live hasn’t massively done much to swing me away from that. Technically proficient, but ultimately leaves me cold. Unlike similar post-Windmill acts like Man/Woman/Chainsaw, the instrumentation is complicated rather than complex, too focused on showing off how clever they are rather than containing any heart. A couple of songs, which checking setlist.fm appear to be new and hitherto unreleased, do actually start to get to me, so maybe there is hope yet that they’ll develop beyond the BCNR aping and give me some soul. I am at least spared the Disney villain stage whisper of “difficult stuff!” that sets my teeth on edge, so I count my blessings. Support from Ebbb, who are perfectly serviceable, the last song bearing superficial similarity to early Everything Everything but without the depth. Promise, though. A fun dissonance between the energetic stage craft of the frontman and the somewhat posh and taken aback “thank you”s after each song.