Live at Nelsonica & Clothworkers Hall by Bill Nelson's Orchestra Futura
Release date: February 13, 2026Label: Ethersounds
An early morning dawn feels appropriate for me to dwell into this next review as I’m typing this down. Here I am, on my laptop, listening to the wonders and beauty which is Bill Nelson’s Orchestra Futura and the various concerts that were made from three shows in Leeds and York in 2011, 2012, and 2018. The genesis of the trio which consists of Be-Bop Deluxe founder Bill Nelson, Theo Travis (Soft Machine, Robert Fripp, and Steven Wilson), and Dave Strut (Gong, Jade Warrior) go back between 2009 and 2019 when they would do at Bill’s Nelsonica conventions.
An early morning dawn feels appropriate for me to dwell into this next review as I’m typing this down. Here I am, on my laptop, listening to the wonders and beauty which is Bill Nelson’s Orchestra Futura and the various concerts that were made from three shows in Leeds and York in 2011, 2012, and 2018. The genesis of the trio which consists of Be-Bop Deluxe founder Bill Nelson, Theo Travis (Soft Machine, Robert Fripp, and Steven Wilson), and Dave Strut (Gong, Jade Warrior) go back between, and I might be wrong, 2009 and 2019 when they would do at Bill’s Nelsonica conventions.
The live album Live at Nelsonica & Clothworkers Hall, showcases the dreamlike ambiance in which the three-piece delve into their work to prove they can flow the lakes of passages into a more slumberland result of wonder and awe that launches them into our solar system. A combination of these three musicians, prove to me they can take their leveling approach with mind-blowing beauty and spectacular walks of life.
During the opening track ‘A Marble Solace’ Theo’s flute sounds echoes into the hallways of wonder as Nelson lays down some meditated guidance on his guitar to give it that stress relieving arrangement to give listeners a chance to calm and take multiple breathe in and outs of feeling that you are in this complete stance to close your eyes and clear out your thoughts.
Bill gives Theo and Dave the displays by creating these immerse textures with menacing film-noir attitudes in someways to imagine themselves being a part of the film-noir genre or the Nouvelle Vague between late 1940s into the 1950s which is evidential on the futuristic ‘Pixels by Moonlight’. Nelson lays down his guitar by making it sound like the garage-rock powder-keg, but adding those electronics floating into view, he knows he’s on the right track.
Not to mention the harmonica shuffle which is needed to produce some nods to “Whispering” Bob Harris and his TV show, the Old Grey Whistle Test. It does have some ‘Peter Gunn’ tips the trio pay tribute to both Henry Mancini and the Headhunters period from Herbie Hancock that goes in the middle of that. How funky, jazzy, and noir like can you get?
Travis adds in the loop holes between his flute and sax to cut through the sheets by adding in that punch he puts his into his instruments while Strut’s exercising sounds on his fretless and Ebow bass demonstrates the techniques he follows with the other two to see where they want him to travel towards. The quietness in a ghost-town on the railroad tracks, send in these pins dropping at the right moment as Nelson plays these reverbing chords on ‘For the Sake of Trains’.
You feel the quiet, the eerie abandonment of a train station, the remembrance, and the sound of a train whistling for passengers to climb aboard to head towards their next location or looking at the view inside the cartridge. ‘Perfect Cloud’ closes the album by opening up this new world in its mystical atmosphere.
Here, Travis’ sax arrangements echo throughout the forest-like locations in its exquisite crying to the gods. Nelson’s harmonica comes in the midsection sending out its peaceful transition and the noise of the bass, tells us its time to head back home and wait for the next trip in the years to come. A breathtaking and astonishing release for 2026 by making it the perfect opportunity to become the meditated album it truly deserves to be in the years to come. And we’ve got to experience it, start to finish.
Why do you think they’re channeling the Soft Machine’s arrangements times? Which speaks a bit of the Third album as they honour the late, great Mike Rateldge with wah-wah effects, fast-paced fretboards going in at 900 miles per hour, Mahavishnu-like drum work, its all there for you to set foot into the world of PAKT’s territory if you are prepared to open that door and be a part of their magic carpet ride, waiting for you at the right place, at the right time.
