Ma Fleur
The Cinematic Orchestra\'s third studio album is a long way from the cut-up jazz of their origins. Moving beyond noir mood pieces, *Ma Fleur* delves into stark, heartbreakingly beautiful folk and soul. Fontella Bass\' haunting vocals give \"Familiar Ground\" and \"Breathe\" a timeless quality, and Lamb\'s Lou Rhodes evokes Nick Drake at his most vulnerable on the spare, acoustic \"Music Box\"; another Rhodes-led song, \"Time and Space,\" comes on like winter dusk—chilly but also comforting.
J. Swinscoe's downtempo outfit-- which escaped the trappings of its peers by feeling more like expansive, carefully constructed suites than collections of songs-- returns after a five-year drought.
On 1999's Motion and 2002's Every Day, producer Jason Swinscoe assembled beguiling grooves from a mixture of looped rhythms and live-band improvisation. On The Cinematic Orchestra's Ma Fleur, he goes in a logically organic direction, with tracks that are more through-composed and heavier on vocals. They're also less…
When Ma Fleur was first released—fourteen years ago, back in 2007—it may well have struck The Cinematic Orchestra's fanbase as something of a surprise.
Eight years ago, Jason Swinscoe gathered a group of adventurous jazz musicians in London to record the ideas floating through his head.
The Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur review: The Cinematic Orchestra finally takes its name to heart and diverges from their jazzy style.