As Robert Smith approached his thirtieth birthday, he released Disintegration. It was The Cure’s richest album to date but also its most melancholic. I thought of this dichotomy last week at Ensemble Offspring’s long-awaited New York debut. Would the veteran Aussies feel “young again,” to echo Smith’s lyrics, or rue time’s “pictures of trickery”?

Something-zero birthdays are universally sobering. You must account for your life and career thus far or someone else will do it for you. Now that EO has finally reached Smith’s milestone, I’ll step up and do the honours. I can confirm that they’ve not only filled their tenure industriously (evidenced by their commemorative tote, on which I’m humbled to see my name among hundreds of composers) but they’re more vital than ever.

Ensemble Offspring performing at Irondale, Brooklyn. Photo © Peter Serling

The group’s biggest present to itself so far was last week’s destination trip to New York’s Long Play Festival. The latest iteration of Bang on a Can’s celebrated new music surveys was extraordinarily packed, pitting post-punk pioneer Kim Gordon against the legendarily “trans-idiomatic” Anthony Braxton (showcased by...