science-fiction – devizine.com

If I’m considering reviewing worldwide music again, why stop with this planet?! Though I’ve reasoned two tenacious links to mention this madcap Scottish interstellar outfit; one, their tour lands them at Frome’s Cheese and Grain on Saturday April 19th, and two, they’re called Henge, and as Wiltshire houses the most famous one of them, that’ll do!

Why am I so keen to mention them? It’s the challenge of summing up something completely unique. It requires a gaping pigeonhole, comical jazzy post-rave space-rock probably best suits; bonkers, in a word. Someone shared a video of them headlining the Shambala Festival and I was abducted, though while I’ve not listened to their previous three albums, we’ll launch off with their forthcoming album Journey to Voltus B, set for release on January 31st, exactly ten years to the day from when the band gave their first live performance on planet Earth.

This is truly out of this world fantastic, and what should’ve been playing at the Cantina in Star Wars. It’s like Scott Joplin came after Eat Static, or Miles Davis was a member of Hawkwind. If Funki Porcini met Altern 8, or Philip K Dick was a guest on Yo Gabba Gabba, it’s the sum of all these parts yet it’s none of them, because it’s alien, pinching Jeff Wayne’s stash for testing purposes and stranding him on an uninhabited Plutoid!

Over seven certifiably insane but glorious tunes you travel to Voltus B with the half-druid mutant electronic spacerockers, the planet of an advanced civilisation with a looming atomic future, and you get to decide their fate!

Side B of the vinyl version of the album has been innovatively cut in ‘parallel groove’ with two tracks, both called Power of the Atom, pressed concentrically to each other on the same side of the record. While one track tells the bleak fate of Voltus B after its inhabitants use their newfound knowledge of atomic power to make weapons, with the planet annihilated in war and entering a nuclear winter; the other tells the story of the planet’s future after the aliens decide to use their scientific discovery to create limitless clean energy through Nuclear Fusion.

But you are supplied with the mission brief enroute. Ascending is the opening tune and first single, which is out now and available on all platforms. It blasts off without waiting for you to lock into position. Then it’s a Slingshot around Mars to get us on our way, a post-punky robotic vocal track with equal pace, which falls dramatically by the third tune as we enter Hypersleep. As it suggests, this is the dreamy ambience of the Orb, and you await for landing, in audio bliss. Descending next, and we’re off again with the crazy uptempo nut-filled jazzy explosion of synths. You’re welcomed to Voltus B like it was a nineties free party, then comes the concluding narrative, like Edward Packard’s Choose Your Own Adventure book series, on acid!

Of the new single, Henge frontman and crew captain, Zpor, explains, “with this new single Ascending we are setting the scene for our latest adventure into space. As we blast off from Earth, it becomes clear that YOU, the listener, are among our crew for this high-stakes voyage, where the fate of an entire planet is literally in your hands.”

This is, without doubt, mind-blowingly progressive, and highly entertaining, especially for stoners, Trekkies and kids of all ages alike, and I tick all those boxes. It’s child-friendly psychedelic vaudeville, the Jetsons meet the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, in Lego.

This new favourite thing made me think about the end of ET, and why Elliot couldn’t go with him, because if music is like this elsewhere in the universe and I was Elliot, I’d have packed glow sticks into my backpack and not looked back at Earth once!

In support of their latest campaign, HENGE are embarking on an extensive run of UK shows planned for 2025. Join the band at the following locations and venues:

HENGE TOUR DATES

UK (with Tirikilatops)

14/03/25 – G2 Garage, Glasgow

15/03/25 – The Grand, Clitheroe

20/03/25 – The Parish, Huddersfield

21/03/25 – The Drill, Lincoln

22/03/25 – The Tivoli, Buckley

27/03/25 – Castle and Falcon, Birmingham

28/03/25 – Esquires, Bedford

04/04/25 – Sidney and Matilda, Sheffield

05/04/25 – Brudenell, Leeds (matinee & evening)

11/04/25 – Boileroom, Guildford