Biography
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Years Active
2010 – present (14 years)
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Founded In
Auckland, Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
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Members
- Jacob Portrait
- Julien Ehrlich
- Kody Nielson
- Lunar R•A•E
- Riley Geare
Unknown Mortal Orchestra (UMO) is a New Zealand psychedelic rock band formed in Auckland and currently based in Portland, Oregon, USA. Primarily composed of singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ruban Nielson, and bassist Jacob Portrait, the band was started by Nielson in 2010. The band's debut album was released in 2011 on Fat Possum Records. In November 2013, the band's second album, II, won Best Alternative Album at the New Zealand Music Awards.
In late 2010 the band's bandcamp account featured their single ‘Ffunny Ffrends’, a sort of alien beatnik pop music that echoed 60s psychedelia and krautrock minimalism with just a hint of gentle weirdness that suggested its roots might equally lie in the verdant indie of the equally distant New Zealand scene.
Ruban Nielson is a New Zealand native who transplanted to Portland, Oregon, USA with his band The Mint Chicks. UMO was a project conceived as Ruban’s escape hatch to a new musical dimension where his vision of junkshop record collector pop could be realised in a sound that recalled Captain Beefheart, Sly Stone and RZA jamming on some kids TV theme too dark to ever be broadcast.
The eponymous UMO debut album was released in 2011 on Fat Possum Records, followed by II (2013), Multi-Love (2015), Sex & Food (2018), IC-01 Hanoi (2018) and V (2023).
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