Saturday 4th December 2005

For around two years, Little Princess Orchestra (LPO) have cut a swathe through London's moribund live music circuit. Polarising opinion wherever they go, simultaneously feted as the best band in the world and castigated as the worst.

LPO defy convention as much as possible by never writing songs or rehearsing, but always improvising on the spot. Between a group of musicians who know each other well, improvising can become the worst kind of navel-gazing. LPO have warded off this ennui by having a constantly shifting line-up.

Tonight is the birthday party for LPO instigator Hugo. Lead vocalists Hugo & Carmel vent everything on their minds through their lyrics. There is no rock and roll sophistry here. The soundsystem is too good to allow cheap glossolalia of kind favoured by ex-pat Japanese rock singers, no names mentioned, OK, yes I mean Damo Suzuki.

The only possible word that can describe the interaction between Hugo and Carmel is 'psychodrama'. Modern music is all about release. That element is there in LPO, in all it's life-affirming glory. But they won't allow you this release until they've delivered a large package of tension first.

Standing on stage in front of a rock band, facing an enthusiastic crowd, singing their hearts out - this isn't therapy, this is catharsis. But don't be fooled by all this psychobabble. Remember, this is showbusiness.

Hugo's stage persona puts me in mind of some Greek god floating on a cloud far above the world. Seeing these puny humans, he feels a momentary pang of concer and airily deigns to intervene in the affairs of man.

Carmel is harder to categorise. The first few performances I saw by her were marked by a frenetic style of dancing that makes David Byrne in the video for Once In A Lifetime look calm and composed. At times, I wondered if she was communicating in some secret sign language. Later performances saw a more spritely and puckish sense of humour emerging.

If you haven't caught LPO, you've probably won't. Hugo has stated that his mission to inject some much needed energy into improvisation has been accomplished.

With the imminent demise of LPO, there is no danger of their music become stale or cliched. In the end, it isn't a corpse they leave behind. It is more like a butterfly chrysalis hatching.

Whatever emerges remains to be discovered ...