Neu The Orchestra (For Now): “It took a long time to find people that we could trust - to not just to follow your ideas, but generate them too”

Around the release of their latest EP ‘Plan 76’, The Orchestra (For Now) share the merits and pitfalls of being one of the country’s buzziest and overtly maximalist new groups.

Words: A. L. Noonan
Photos: Molly Boniface
27th November 2025

“I’m scared. Shall I just post it now?” asks Joe Scarisbrick, vocalist and pianist of London’s The Orchestra (For Now). “Do it!” implores bandmate and cellist Erin Snape, edging him on with a puckish laugh.

The Orchestra (For Now)’s Instagram refreshes: a notes app screenshot reads, “it has come to our attention there are very worrying rumours circulating, but we can fully account for all of our whereabouts from 9:30 AM to 9:37 AM CET on October 19th… We wish for the safe return of the stolen jewellery belonging to French royalty to the Louvre’s Galerie d’Apollon.”

For a group considered overtly sincere and earnest in their songwriting, The Orchestra (For Now) take playfulness equally as seriously. “I want a BIG viral moment!” exclaims Joe as he puffs skittishly on a vape, engulfed by a stock Zoom background of hellfire and darkness. “I think internet culture and social stuff is very funny, but also soul destroying in that we HAVE to do it,” he adds with a look of frustration. “We struggle with social media,” admits Erin, backed less demonically by a rack of guitars.

Despite their misgivings about playing any wider industry games, The Orchestra (For Now) - completed by guitarists Neil Thomson and Bill Bickerstaff, violinist Lingling Bao-Smith, bassist Millie Kirby and drummer Charlie Hancock - have experienced a rapid ascent since their formation in 2023. In combining spasmodic art-rock jolts with neoclassical arrangements atop a neurotic post-rock form, the seven-headed hydra of The Orchestra (For Now) have emerged as one of the country’s premier exponents of what is somewhat being referred to as London Prog.

“We didn’t invent that - it was some bullshit A&R thing,” the pair admit. “We’ve got all the tropes seen in the last decade of London music,” Joe adds, “but filtered through a proggy lens of dense instrumentation and big melodies.” He grins, “I’ve only got grade two piano, though. My teacher said I’d never make nice sounds on the piano… he might’ve been correct.” “It’s the anxiety in the vocals,” Erin quips. “That’s the London sound.”

“My teacher said I’d never make nice sounds on the piano. He might have been correct.”

— Joe Scarisbrick

It’s not just industry eyes that have fallen on The Orchestra (For Now). In under a year, the group leapt from midweek shows at The Windmill in Brixton to the main stage at Green Man with a sway of that attention coming from bootleg live recordings and curious forum posts.

This March saw the release of their debut EP, ‘Plan 75’, a caustic flurry of contemporary prog that drew wide critical acclaim. Ahead of their follow-up, ‘Plan 76’, the band are set for a broad UK tour and the eventual release of a full LP. “There is a story that links the two EPs,” marks Joe mysteriously, “but I take the Lynchian position of saying ‘it’s all there - you have to figure it out.’”

Amid the shroud of anticipation and hype, the band are dedicated to a culture based on trust. “The band’s quite young in terms of how long it’s been going,” reflects Joe. “It took a long time to find people that I could trust - to not just to follow your ideas, but generate them too.”

“It’s rare,” Erin says simply. “To be able to find that many voices and each of you have your own valuable dynamic that contributes to the whole, it’s very special.”

‘Plan 76’ is out now.

#AD