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Rating:
A sense of incompleteness hovers over this latest album by the Cinematic Orchestra. In 2007, after the successful debut "Motion", a tribute to the cinema of the 60s and 70s, and the sophisticated and difficult to listen to "Man In The Movie Camera", Jason Swinscoe's group returns with "Ma Fleur", turning the page and trying to simplify the sound, continuing a discourse that involves a certain type of audience and introducing the typical song format, enlisting collaborations such as soul vocalist Fontella Bass, folk-singer Lou Rhodes, and Canadian singer-songwriter Patrick Watson.
The album manifests itself, first and foremost, as a more intimate and introspective work compared to previous efforts, but stylistically, it seems somewhat forcefully elaborate, with overly calm tones, catering to an audience that loves relaxing and sophisticated atmospheres but still demands a "ear-friendly" product.
"Ma Fleur", however, does not fail to offer evocative emotions, as in the first track To Build A Home, minimalist and essential, excellently performed by a crescendo piano accompanied by Watson's ecstatic and poignant singing. In Music Box, light guitar arpeggios guide a whispered and subdued vocal part, while the very short Prelude is dominated exclusively by a dense and enveloping string section. Breathe might be a bit lengthy, but it is marked by a highly emotional vocal performance by Fontella Bass, also fundamental in Familiar Ground, where her gospel roots are clearly distinguished.
The title track, based on solid jazz foundations, vaguely reminds of the Soft Machine sound but does not convince due to a slight underlying flatness, while in As The Star Fall we find psychedelic flashes alternated with sudden rhythmic shifts of the double bass and percussion of pleasing impact. Pleasant are the soft and jazzy Child Song, rich in verve and graceful choruses, and the enchanting Into You, dominated by the alluring sax, where one perceives a reference to the romantic progressive of the 70s. Time and Space, which closes the album, is a wonderful ballad, almost a suite, in which guitar and piano intersect in an acerbic tapestry of soothing sounds, sung by an excellent Lou Rhodes.
"Ma Fleur" is essentially a well-packaged work, played and arranged impeccably, despite being, in some episodes, boring and predictable; one has the impression that these artists wanted to perform, like diligent students, their perfect little assignment, well polished on the surface but with few sparks of originality and inventiveness, perhaps, to please everyone a little. The CD includes a gallery of beautiful photographs, to emphasize how the music of the Cinematic Orchestra is created specifically to evoke images and impressions that perfectly marry with cinema and the visual arts in general.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 To Build a Home (06:11)
There is a house built out of stone
Wooden floors, walls, and window sills
Tables and chairs worn by all of the dust
This is a place where I don't feel alone
This is a place where I feel at home.
And I built a home
For you
For me
Until it disappeared
From me
From you
And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust.
Out in the garden where we planted the seeds
There is a tree as old as me
Branches were sewn by the color of green
Ground had arose and passed its knees.
By the cracks of the skin I climbed to the top
I climbed the tree to see the world
When the gusts came around to blow me down
I held on as tightly as you held onto me
I held on as tightly as you held onto me.
And I built a home
For you
For me
Until it disappeared
From me
From you
And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust.
02 Familiar Ground (04:34)
How near
How far
How near, boy
Tell me, how far
How near
Oh yes
How far
How near
How far
How near, how near, how near, how near
How far, how far, how far, how far
How near, how near, how near, how near
How far, how far, how far, how far
How far
And how far
Tell me how far
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