virgin orchestra is a Reykjavik-based experimental post punk band. They first met as students at the Icelandic University of the Arts' music department. They draw on a variety of influences, citing names ranging from The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, and The Velvet Underground to Dmitri Shostakovich and Delia Derbyshire as influences.
Up to this point, virgin orchestra has only released one single, on your knees/give in, which has received widespread accolades. The band's sound is clearly on the darker side of post punk, with elements of electronica and dreampop among others.
"on your knees is an anthem of tragedy," the band describe. "The listener is placed in a situation where prisoners of war are being publicly executed, one after the other,” says the band. “A deep sense of melancholy urgency is channeled through piercing, melodic guitar lines and relentlessly pounding drums. The vocals and cello carry hopelessness and dread as they go from near-silent whispers into screams, as if calling for help."
On give in, the second track included in the single, virgin orchestra say that it "is about being trapped in the liminal state between wakefulness and sleep, as one finds themselves sinking deeper and deeper into substance abuse. The music fluctuates between mellow highs and painful lows, lending an uncertainty as to when each state will be brought about–and when and how this situation will end."
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virgin orchestra
Band photo by Ásta Jónína
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