Oracle Hysterical is twin brothers Doug Balliett (double bass, viola da gamba) and Brad Balliett (bassoons), Majel Connery (vocals, keys), Elliot Cole (vocals, guitars, keys), and Dylan Greene (percussion). Part band, part book club, Oracle Hysterical combines eclectic musical influences with literary breadth. All members of the group perform and compose, with each project developed collectively.
Oracle’s works occupy the fluid space between classically-inclined song-cycle and art-rock concept album. The group’s songwriting illuminates fragments of great literary works like a child in a dark forest with a flashlight. Text sources have ranged from Grimms’ Fairy Tales to Greek tragedy, and falsely-attributed Shakespeare, all in collections of songs that distill centuries-old writing through a unique contemporary lens.
Most recently, Oracle wrote Terra Nova, a cycle on problematic explorers, at the invitation of Hub New Music. Terra Nova premiered at Peabody Essex Museum March 2020 and included texts from Robert Falcon Scott, James Audubon, Amelia Earhart, the harrowing Spanish Requirement of 1513, and the highly controversial theory of pre-Columbian exploration of North America by Chinese mariners. Terra Nova has since been performed on the steps of Central Library (Grand Army Plaza) and the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art (Snug Harbor, Staten Island), presented by 5 Boroughs New Music Festival, in May 2020. Zachary Woolfe, writing for the New York Times, called the performance “superb.”