The Octopus Project @ Mercury Lounge August 17

MERCH! Josh Lambert, Toto Miranda, me & camera guy Jake Seymour

I've been smitten with the band called The Octopus Project ever since I heard their song "Truck" years ago.  The tune bursts at the seams with joyous layers of electronic and basic band instrumentation without requiringany sort of vocal anchor, it simply charges through your senses until everything ends somehow after just two minutes.

The intensity of this indietronica requires all four members to fully commit to whatever instrument they happen to be in front of, as they change places often. Then there's lovely Yvonne Lambert's expertise with the Theremin, utilizing a dancer's poise from center stage.  Rounding out the line up is her husband Josh Lambert, Toto Miranda and Ryan Figg. (I was able to interview the quartet from Austin, Texas back at Moogfest 2010 where I talked about all this and more.)

Their latest album, Fever Forms, introduces vocals to expand the sound and hopefully bring more recognition from the music scene.  During the set at Mercury Lounge Saturday night, this new development seemed to throw off the sound guy when they played the two singles, "Whitby" and "Sharpteeth," back to back.  By the second song, the vocals were less buried in the mix although Miranda and Yvonne Lambert still looked tentative about their new role as singers.  The show's lighting was tough for shooting mementos but the place was packed, making for quite a show.  Here's the set list and a video for the first song (and that was just the beginning!)  The tour continues west all the way to California before heading across the pond to the U.K. and Europe. Official PopMatters write up at link here.

SET LIST:

The Falls

Pyramid Kosmos

Mmkit

The Adjustor

The Mythical ELC

Perhap

The Man with the Golden Hand

I Saw the Bright Shinies

Whitby

Sharpteeth

Catalog

Truck

Porno Disaster

Tuxedo Hat