Orbiting Human Circus Quartet Plus Two Pink & Natural Swirl Vinyl Edition

Orbiting Human Circus' new album is called Quartet Plus Two. What is OrbitingHuman Circus? It is the continuing evolution of Julian Koster (Neutral Milk Hotel,The Music Tapes), whose music and storytelling under this moniker haveencompassed immersive theater and a Night Vale Presents podcast, as well as moretraditional albums.Central to the album are the "two" referenced in the title: North and Romika, thesinging saws, whom Koster doesn't "play" so much as encourage. "I think saws singlike angels," says Koster. "I always have. Since I was a little boy. When you encouragethem to sing, they do so earnestly and beautifully. It's an honest and real sound."The origins of Quartet Plus Two are as magical and seemingly unlikely as everything elsein Koster's career. While walking through New York's Central Park, he stumbled uponGauvain Gamon and Kolja Gjoni_a standup bass player and drummer,respectively_playing Gershwin and Mingus, and a musical partnership was born.Pianist Benji Miller rounds out the titular quartet, with Koster's longtime collaboratorsRobbie Cucchiaro (horns) and Thomas Hughes (orchestral arranging and chimes) ofThe Music Tapes also contributing to the record.The music they make together is at once familiar and unrecognizable, as Koster andOrbiting Human Circus interpret jazz compositions by Irving Berlin, Duke Jordan,George and Ira Gershwin, and others, alongside Koster's three originals. The use ofthe term "composition" is intentional and speaks to Koster's relationship with themusic of Quartet Plus Two in far more evocative terms than "cover" or "standard.""To me it was always magical that there were these people called `composers' whocreated symphonies and popular songs for other people to breathe into life andexistence all over the world and throughout time," he explains. "They traveled into ourhomes as sheet music, endless recorded interpretations, or were passed from hand tohand, village to village, like folk tales, changed by every hand that t...