Monolith Cocktail Blog

Single review: Andrew C. Kidd




Selfless Orchestra ‘Eden is Lost’
(Mysteria Maxima Music) 8 April 2019

According to Selfless Orchestra, Eden, that fabled Mesopotamian garden, has been lost. The Australian decuple open their debut single with a light, Greenwood-esque electric guitar riff that is plucked atop indiscernible background garbles and groans. Violin, viola and cello slowly weave around a folksy counterpoint melody. The post rock on-button is pressed about a third of the way through the piece; the pace livens, the rhythm guitar flips into heavy distortion and there is lots more snare.

The piece is not progressive in the purest sense. There are no major key or structural changes, ‘prog medleys’ are not offered and the instrumentation remains the same throughout. The piece does, however, follow an ascending trajectory: the guitar that becomes gradually more distorted, the strings more frantic and the high-pitched female vocals all drive it towards a frenzied conclusion.

Selfless Orchestra describe themselves as a “post rock orchestra”, a blend of Mogwai and Sigur Rós. I would even add a drop or two of Dirty Three and Pure Reason Revolution into that mix. They perform their compositions in the live setting accompanied by film presentations with the aim of engendering positive social change. Eden Is Lost has been launched with the proceeds of auctioned artworks and limited edition 7-inch vinyls of the single going to charities that support and protect the Great Barrier Reef. It is certainly a very noble and commendable enterprise.