Release : The Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur EP
Artist : The Cinematic Orchestra
Album : Ma Fleur EP
Genre : Lo-Fi
Source : CD Maxi
Label : Ninja Tune
URL :
Date : 2007-02-00
Encoder : LAME 3.90.3 / alt-preset standard
Quality : 181kbps 44100 kHz Joint Stereo
Tracks : 3
Time : 13:49 min
Size : 19.00
1 To Build A Home (Edit) 2:58
2 Breathe 6:35
3 Colours 4:16
May 7th sees the release of the first full studio album by Jason Swinscoe's
Cinematic Orchestra since 2002's "Everyday". Entitled "Ma Fleur," the record was
written as the soundtrack to a specially commissioned screenplay for an imagined
film (which may or may not yet be made).
Shortly after finishing "Everyday," a piece of music which achieved great
critical and commercial success (selling over 100,000 units) Jason Swinscoe
relocated from East London to Paris. Here he began work on the instrumentals
which would form the basis of his new record - more moods than finished tracks,
a series of sketches or diagrams of directions to follow. Having completed a
rough version by early 2005, he gave this to a friend who disappeared for 3
weeks and came back with short story scripts in which each track represented a
scene. Jason then took this and worked some more on the tracks, and in turn gave
this back to his scriptwriter, the two aspects of the project developing
alongside one another.
Gradually, Swinscoe recruited suitable vocalists for the atmospheres and themes
he wanted to deal with. The remarkable Fontella Bass (the woman behind both
legendary soul number "Rescue Me" as well as some of the Art Ensemble of
Chicago's finest moments) had worked on "Everyday" and was an obvious choice to
voice the parts of the elderly protagonist that Swinscoe envisaged.
Mercury-nominated Lou Rhodes is not only a fantastic singer but a young mother
and so perfect for the "mid-life" singer. The as-yet unheralded Patrick Watson,
a remarkable vocalist from Montreal, became the youngest of the trio.
Swinscoe, now based in New York, then filled out the arrangments with the band
and assistance from his old collaborator, bassist Phil France. As a final part
of the process, renowned New York photographer Maya Hayuk was commissioned to
take pictures to represent each of the scenes/tracks. These pictures, scenes
where the characters are missing or abstracted or metaphoric, would once again
feed back into world of the soundtrack for a missing film.
Dealing with themes of loss and love - and in itself representing a kind of
absence - "Ma Fleur" is fertile ground for Swinscoe's brand of music-making, for
while people have talked about what he does in terms of jazz, the truth is that
the basis of his music has always been in raw emotion. From the achingly
beautiful opener "To Build A Home" to the finale, "Time And Space," this is an
album which reaches for and finds a truth and honesty far beyond what we would
normally expect from such a record, but without losing any of the accessibility
which made TCO popular in the first place. If the mood is melancholy, Swinscoe
and the musicians he works with manage to make it an ultimately uplifting
experience, perhaps in the end more about the love you find than the love you
loseà
The Cinematic Orchestra will be bringing their legendary liveshow to
international venues from April.
Thx To Support Artists!
If You Like It ! Buy It ! :)
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