Wellington experimental post-metal duo Into Orbit perform in Christchurch during their first ever visit to the south island, to perform with local acts Troika and Samsara.
INTO ORBIT.
Into Orbit seeks to evoke moving narratives via textural suites. They inject unorthodox time signatures into songs that counterpoint sweet-tempered and stentorian passages. And they ignore strict genre guidelines, combining post-and-progressive-rock and post-metal, with a touch of drone and ambient elements added on. - Craig Hayes (www.sixnoises.com)
They’re certainly a world class act in my view. A duo that is slowly, surely, crafting a sound with legs, with heart, with soul – with a long-term durability... It’s hypnotic, mesmeric and subtly anthemic. It feels – while it’s happening – like the only thing that matters. - Simon Sweetman (www.offthetracks.co.nz)
Into Orbit formed in 2013 in Wellington, New Zealand born from a collaboration between guitarist Paul Stewart and drummer Ian Moir. While describing their music as ‘experimental rock’, Into Orbit’s sound runs the gamut from post-rock and soundtrack/soundscape, to metal, prog, noise and drone.
They self-recorded and independently released their debut album in August 2014 to underground critical acclaim and since then have been consistently performing around New Zealand, including several headlining tours and an opening slot for German prog metal act The Ocean.
Two years on, the duo have completed writing, and started recording a second full length album, expected to be released late 2016.
Into Orbit recently released their a new single ‘Dark Matter’ along with a video clip and released a vinyl pressing of their 2014 debut album Caverns.
In the short time since their inception, the duo have gained a strong following in New Zealand and around the world, and have recently started to gain interest from the world of film and television. In a recent ‘diary’ column in the Dominion Post, Neil Cross (Wellington resident and writer of BBC television series LUTHER) was quoted as saying he only listens to “Awesome space-rock duo Into Orbit” while writing, and just finished a project for HBO, which he wrote while almost exclusively listening to their music.
TROIKA.
Troika is an atmospheric-experimental rock 3-piece from Christchurch. Their sound ranges from gentle and atmospheric passages to dynamic, intense walls of distortion and feedback and is influenced by the likes of Pink Floyd, Sigur Rós, Tool and Mogwai.
Formed in 2009 and comprising of Dorian Lemonnier on drums/vocals, Alan Kang on guitar/vocals and David Webber on bass/vocals, they recorded their first album Prototype in 2011. The recently released follow-up EP zero-one sees a progression in their songwriting with a deeper, more progressive soundscape coming to the fore.
SAMSARA.
Founded in early 2015 from the ashes of the progressive rock band Amorphous, Christchurch’s newest instrumental post-rock band Samsara are quickly making a name for themselves in the local music scene. Their music uses both soft and heavy textural elements that are both powerful and entrancing.
Constantly honing their performance with regular gigs and plans for a national tour to support an upcoming EP, the next 12 months look to be very exciting for Samsara.
