Red Iron Orchestra

The history's just as substantial and nuanced as the sound. Red Iron Orchestra (the band) has gestated for more than a year, but the players' friendships, not to mention the musical talents and resumes of said-players, stretch back a decade and beyond. Ludicrous as "writing about music" can be, this is where words could falter. The mood of the songs is all so grand — the guitars like a waterfall's vociferous torrent, before drifting away to a disarming calm, propelled along by interlocked rhythms (sonorous piano, shuffling drums, heartbeat bass). Red Iron Orchestra, with their six-plus minute concertos, still embrace the trappings of rock. Singer/guitarist Chris Lavaque and singer/guitarist Randall Kupfer both played in I, the Magician/Old Tiger Stadium. In fact, much of the band (guitarist/organist/pianist Tom Currie, guitarist James Obenour and drummer Brian Galindo (Few and Far Between) each played in that band as well. Distinguishing Red Iron Orchestra is a balance of the ethereal with a poignancy, as bassist Nicole Margosian-Galindo (Lovesick/Charlevoix) came in to round out the sextet. "The concept," says Margosian-Galindo, "was to regroup [I, The Magician] with one difference — me — and one change of instrumentation."