Review: The Cinematic Orchestra: “Motion” (1999)

Released in 1999, this was the Cinematic Orchestra’s debut album. The seven-track record lies in the fields of electro-jazz, trip-hop and downtempo, and of course, wide, oftenly creepy soundscapes (or in tiny claustrophobic little spaces). But while some songs may be very creepy, others are as much as welcoming. I myself don’t feel that a simple piece of text such as this one may be enough to describe an album, let alone describe it well, but I’m too weak to fight the urge to try…

The album opens with “Durian”, a 7-minute song that features some interesting vocal samples, strings, and a great pulsating bassline. Well, not exactly pulsating, but it does slowly become hypnotic. The song is relatively dark and misty (and would fit into a ‘private eye’ film easily) and dominated by keyboard effects, cymbals and horn samples. Well, at least until some five minutes in where it shifts into a funky and more upbeat passage which also works as a closer to the song. It is first led by a warm electric piano solo, to continue with a torrent of cute little trumpet squeaks and a heavily processed guitar (I think). A perfect introduction to an album.

“Ode to the Big Sea” opens with interesting percussion and some vocal samples. At some 1:20, a piano also joins the fun, and at 1:50 a trumpet occurs, too, and gives a wholly new atmosphere to the work. As I said, the drumming is good, and only gets better. At 3:40, a saxophone appears and… Well… Plays… The song ends as it started – with percussion, and leaves a great feeling behind.

End of side A (on some double LP releases, the side B itself), a 13-minute giant, “Night of the Iguana” follows, and if it isn’t as raw and rough as the other two tracks before, then bottle me. The song itself is also the first one I heard by this group, and it’s very good. The (as always, sampled) drumming is once again nice, and a sample of an alarm clock fading in and out at specific intervals makes this song a little more interesting. At 4:00, the second part of the suite begins. Led by several wind instruments played in unison, and a piano, it is no short of the genius of “Durian” and “Ode”. A little later, strings start fading in and out, and at circa 7:20, the drums and the alarm clock kick in again to continue. At 8:30, a jazzy, funky, sax solo kicks in, and plays on top of the drums and the (by now) more-than familiar alarm clock. At 11:13, the sax is replaced by a trumpet which does a solo that ends with the beginning of the coda at some 12:15-12:30. The coda obviously ends the whole song (and the LP’s side) with strings and the clock, only to leave a rather strange feeling burned into one’s mind.

The second side opens with “Channel 1 Suite”, which opens with a gentle acoustic guitar and some percussion in the back. Then the drums kick in. (by now, my genius has deducted that the whole album is drum-led) Then at some 52 seconds in, the clock pops back in. Is that meant to be some sort of joke, the clock? (Well, it might be better not to know… In fact, I’m not even gonna mention the clock from this point on.) You know, I always found the title of this song to be somewhat strange, but fitting. It might be all the packed tension in the song that gave it the title, as the words ‘Channel one’ sound as if they were ripped out from some thriller movie’s dark, creepy and evil TV station name that sends mind control beams across the globe instead of actual programme, those beams being something like advertisements, but with a slightly more sinister purpose.

Then “Bluebirds” begins with some furious drums. This song sounds strange, to say the least. Especially the saxophone. You know, I don’t have the nerves to listen to this song anymore, I’ll just say that it paralells “Bitches Brew” in dissonance, and reminds me of John Coltrane’s harmonic experimentations on “A Love Supreme”.

“And Relax!”, as track 6 is here. Just under 5 minutes, this is the shortest track on the album. It features a laid-back atmosphere, but don’t you even think that because of that it doesn’t fit the album well. In fact, it does quite well.

The album is closed by track 7, “Diabolous”. The song’s qualities aren’t short of the title – this song really is wicked. It’s stylish and wicked, a little less chilled than the previous track, but then again, better not make it too dreamy, it might just not fit into the album. In the second half of the song, female vocals are sampled. And, damn, if that voice isn’t powerful, then I don’t know what is. And then, as the ending to both the song and the album approaches, the song can only foreshadow the end. And it ends. All in all, yes, this is a good album, but I can’t say it’s an excellent one, despite that it keeps a uniformal and consistent sound through all its tracks. I’ve listened to both better and worse albums, and I have listened to both more sinister, and more bright-hearted ones, however, that doesn’t mean that this album is not above-average. If you have a lot money to spend, spend some of it on this. If you don’t… Then don’t.