The number one component of music that really gets my attention is Brian May plays guitar, but a very close second is clever lyrics. The first morning of 2025’s Talking Maths in Public (TMiP) conference, from waking up, through carving myself a slice of scrambled egg at the breakfast buffet, up until the blessed relief of Jon Chase’s fabulous keynote talk, was soundtracked by a repeating refrain that only I could hear:

‘I like the Pope / The Pope’s got notes on polytopes’.

This had been installed in my brain the night before by the up-and-coming yet thoroughly-arrived (they’re ‘one of the UK’s top ten mathematically-inspired musical combos’) Pseudorandom Ensemble during their first official in-person gig. Brian May did not feature, but a relentless campaign of clever lyrics elicited the full range of reactions from those in attendance: agonised groans to all-out guffaws.

As an n-piece outfit, who’s involved in any given performance is all part of the pseudorandomness. On this occasion the Ensemble comprised Colin Beveridge ({) on guitar and vocals; Sam Holloway (pseudo) on keyboard and vocals; Sam Hartburn (random) on lead vocals and ant-tennae; and Gavan Fantom (}) on a seemingly unending succession of instruments.

As well as the suspiciously catchy celebration of Pope Leo XIV’s mathematical achievements, the PRE treated us to love songs (The Dual of Me), celebrations of diversity (A Totally Normal Song), and recognised that great things can be found in unexpected places (Tumbledown Squares). We’ve all met a Mathematical Villain, but might not have considered How Many Centres a triangle has, or quite how the answer might relate to the human experience. Though none of us knew it at the time, what was to become an emergent sub-theme of the conference – the non-neutrality of maths – was allegorically foreshadowed in The Ant’s Lament.

More than just a musical performance, there were visuals too, via a programmed light show alongside some of the songs; and introductions to some of the concepts supported by diagrams and cartoons. They also aligned with the conference’s background hum of community-building with gentle encouragement to get involved by way of an initial Questionnaire (sure to prompt one’s inner statistician to action), and sing-a-long lyrics projected throughout.

Putting all this into one package makes a Pseudorandom Ensemble gig a beautiful piece of maths communication, playing with mathematical concepts (some of which are quite deep) in a thoroughly entertaining way that’s sure to leave you with a smile on your face.

• Disclosure: The intersection of {people in the Pseudorandom Ensemble} and {people I consider friends} is not empty, but I genuinely enjoyed the gig so all’s fine.
• Find out more: Upcoming shows, example songs, and contact details for the Pseudorandom Ensemble can be found at pseudorandom-ensemble.com