On Tuesday, March 15, Insects vs. Robots took the stage at Ojai’s magical Deer Lodge, taking everyone within the walls of the cabin-like venue on a sonic journey. After a dreamy opening set by folk electronic jam band Radio Skies, Insects vs. Robots assumed the stage amid projections of warped claymation film clips. Their set began with Micah Nelson, free-flowing, untamed son of Willie Nelson, inducting the crowd into a communal musical tour by raising his arms to the ceiling and inviting the audience to “make sound,” which is precisely what the full house at the Deer Lodge did.
Insects vs. Robots is a five piece self-proclaimed “psychedelic freak-folk-rock space-punk gnome-orchestra” hailing from Venice Beach whose members play everything from the electric guitar to the violin to the charango (a small Andean lute); the band has shared stages with the likes of Neil Young and Jack White.
The band delivered a high energy yet trance-like performance, that was somewhere between dream and reality, a theme that can be found within much of their music, particularly their most recent album Stupid Dreams. Opening the set with their song “Ole Lukoje,” frontman Nelson sang with eyes shut, “Am I awake I just don’t know. Are my thoughts just chemicals.” The song itself references a Danish fairy tale about the Sandman who controls children’s dreams, and it carries heavy undertones of a series of dualities, illusion vs. reality, subconscious vs. conscious — insects vs. robots? Their music presents a complex range of contrasts, with swelling, haunting violin solos set against a backdrop of extraterrestrial organized distortion. It is clear that Insects vs. Robots pays little head to established musical norms or boundaries, and is no stranger to the communion of seemingly unusual elements.