AKHIL SOOD

The other day, I ate this Bengali dessert called “Special Sandesh Ice-cream”. It’s basically sandesh (or shondesh, if we’re talking phonetically), ice-cream, and gur (jaggery). I’ve eaten all three separately before, and even in different recipes. But I’ve never had these ingredients interacting with each other like they did on this particular dish. Needless to say, it was sublime. It was something new; something fresh.

British Theatre is sort of like “Special Sandesh Ice-cream”, with their new EP being a great reincarnation of the ghost of Oceansize-past, making their unfortunate split a little easier to swallow. Two of that band’s members, Mike Vennart (vocals/guitars) and Gambler (guitars/keys) have formed this exciting new project, which is quite possibly the greatest band ever of the year 2012 (apologies; slight hyperbole).  An ethereal piano melody, followed soon after by Vennart’s fragile yet very deep vocal delivery and some breakbeat-ish grooves introduce these guys quite spectacularly with opener ‘ID Parade on Ice’. 

There’s the very obvious progressive vibe dictating the sound, but added to that is a wholesome dose of electronics (not the dhik-chik dance beat variety, mind you) and a tendency to experiment with sounds, rhythms, and structures. ‘ID Parade on Ice’ makes an impact immediately, with the second track, ‘Gold Bruise’, taking a while to grow, before it finally explodes on to the aural senses of the listener with its thoughtful, smooth-as-lube down-tempo space. The final piece in this short, three-song puzzle, is just that – a four-minute piece of meandering, ambient guitar-and-keys designs and patterns that may just reappear in a more complete and coherent structure on a full-length album that the band is currently working towards.

British Theatre (what a pretty, if slightly pretentious, name, by the way) is a significant band, in that it signifies hope. It stays afloat through a careful sense of experimentation and melody, and an open and expressive sensibility. It’s honest.

Check out their music at (http://britishtheatre.bandcamp.com)