Music | Daily Emerald
26 April 2019
Ruban Nielson, New Zealand-born singer and guitarist of Unknown Mortal Orchestra excitedly addressed the sold-out crowd at the WOW Hall, in Eugene, Oregon. “What’s up, Eugene? You alright?” Unknown Mortal Orchestra (UMO) brought a…
Music | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
7 October 2018
“An hour-long set of psychedelic sonic explorations breathes fire into songs that can border on boring in their studio iterations,” the Sydney Morning Herald’s Matt Teffer writes in a review of a recent
Music | Houston Chronicle
17 July 2018
Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s “lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Ruban Nielson takes influence from a diverse group of artists ranging from Stevie Wonder to punk act the Buzzcocks to musical iconoclast Frank Zappa,” writes Carlos De Loera in…
Music | Irish Times (The)
7 June 2018
In search of a new direction after three critically acclaimed psychedelic indie rock records, 38-year-old New Zealander Ruban Nielson, frontman of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, took to the road to write and record album No…
Music | DIY
20 April 2018
On 2015’s Multi-Love, New Zealand-born Ruban Nielson, 38, frontman of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, saw his personal life laid out and analysed. Now, on the band’s fourth LP Sex & Food, he’s trying to keep…
Music | SPIN
18 February 2018
The follow-up to New Zealand band Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s 2015 album Multi-Love, their fourth studio album, Sex & Food is out on 6 April.
Bandleader Ruban Nielson described the impetus behind the album, saying he wanted to…
Music | Guardian (The)
3 June 2015
“Oregon-based New Zealander Ruban Nielson is already known for being an offbeat operator, providing psychedelic takes on 70s soul and deeply fried 60s pop on two previous albums,” Guardian reviewer Kitty Empire writes.
“For UMO’s…
Music | Rolling Stone
26 May 2015
“Visionary” New Zealander Ruban Nielson, frontman of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, has tightened up his songwriting, “with the added bonus of synths” on the band’s latest album Multi-Love.
“Nielson’s favourite new toy is apparent from the…
Music | Guardian (The) | Silicon
16 April 2015
New Zealand’s “most exciting offerings” of late, according to the Guardian, “have been the warped psychedelia of Connan Mockasin and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Completing this trio of peculiarity is Silicon – also known as…
Music | Guardian (The)
21 February 2015
New Zealand-born Ruban Nielson’s Portland-based three-piece Unknown Mortal Orchestra makes the Guardian’s daily playlist, with their “bombastic” new single Multi-Love.
“Such was the oddball beauty of Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s introverted second album II that Multi-Love…
Music | Guardian (The)
19 December 2013
The songwriting savant behind Unknown Mortal Orchestra, New Zealander Ruban Nielson, 33, spends many of his nocturnal hours locked away in the basement of his Portland, Oregon home, creating beguiling, hypnagogic psych-pop, the Guardian’s…
Music | The Bay Bridged
2 October 2013
“The Portland-based (though one-third New Zealand-born) trio finds a delicate balance between lo-fi minimalism and swirly, disoriented pop songs heavy on themes of isolation, which they translate gracefully into a live…
Music | austinist.com
20 February 2013
Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson, formerly of The Mint Chicks, attributes his former anonymity and general fame-shyness to, in part, being from New Zealand. Emerging on the scene via an obscure Bandcamp profile in…