From New Zealand via Portland to Pohoda: Unknown Mortal Orchestra Bring Their Psychedelic Rock
Psychedelic rock, funk, soul and lo-fi pop that sound as if you'd found them on an old cassette and, at the same time, as if they'd just arrived from the future. That's the music of Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The band from Auckland, New Zealand, now based in Portland, Oregon, will bring their acclaimed live show to Pohoda 2027.
09. November 2026
The band, known to fans simply as UMO, is led by singer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Ruban Nielson. He comes from Auckland, has New Zealand and Hawaiian roots, and previously played in the New Zealand punk band The Mint Chicks. After the band split, he moved to Portland, where in 2010 he started recording lo-fi psychedelic songs at home. His solo project gradually grew into a band, with his brother Kody Nielson on drums and bassist Jake Portrait. Their father, Chris Nielson, also regularly appears on their records on saxophone and flute.
Their debut album, Unknown Mortal Orchestra (2011), won the Taite Music Prize, New Zealand's equivalent of the Mercury Prize. It was followed by II (2013), Multi-Love (2015), Sex & Food (2018) and V (2023). These albums include songs such as Ffunny Ffrends, So Good at Being in Trouble, Multi-Love, Can't Keep Checking My Phone and Hunnybee, which has more than 130 million plays on Spotify alone. Ruban Nielson has also won two Aotearoa Music Awards and the prestigious APRA Silver Scroll songwriting award. UMO have also collaborated with Gorillaz on the track Severed Head.
Their latest studio album, V (2023), was created between the dry freeways of Palm Springs, California, and the lush coastline of Hilo, Hawai'i. The band's first double album, it draws on West Coast AOR, classic hits, weirdo pop and Hawaiian Hapa-haole music. NME called it a "magnum opus", and Loud & Quiet described it as "unquestionably their best so far".
Alongside their vocal albums, UMO also record the instrumental IC series. Each album documents time spent in a different city, where the band improvises and collaborates with local musicians. After IC-01 Hanoi (2018) came IC-02 Bogotá (2025), recorded at Estudio Naranja in Colombia. In the band's words, it's "possible background music for some strange parties and night drives in your future". That same year, they also released the EP CURSE (2025). Inspired by Italian horror films of the 1970s and 1980s, it combines abrasive riffs reminiscent of Black Sabbath with the laid-back, intricate guitar playing UMO are best known for. In June 2026, Ruban Nielson also released the instrumental album FEAR (2026), recorded in just a few days in Palm Springs with Jared Mattson of The Mattson 2.
At Pohoda, you can look forward to a concert full of hypnotic guitar solos, funky grooves and melodies that will stay in your head long after the festival.