Hidden Orchestra
Archipelago
Release Date: Oct 9, 2012
Genre(s): Electronic, Jazz, Pop/Rock
Record label: Tru Thoughts
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Album Review: Archipelago by Hidden Orchestra
Fairly Good, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 6/10
This is the second album release from Edinburgh, UK's Hidden Orchestra. Consisting of duelling drummers Tim Lane and Jamie Graham, with piano and violin from Poppy Ackroyd and Joe Acheson on bass and samples. Standout track "Spoken" also features skittish, muted trumpet of Phil Cardwell. An immersive union of downtempo jazz and post-rock, Hidden Orchestra occasionally skirt the borderline of cheese, but thankfully manage to stay on the right side of it, for the most part, losing their way slightly on tracks like "Flight," but regaining it fully on "Vorka," which features Su-a Lee on the musical saw, as well as layered cello parts.
Opinion: Fairly Good
Despite moments of distinction, this second LP doesn’t stand up to repeat listens. Kevin Le Gendre 2012 The line between the atmospheric and the asinine is a fine one. Although there is a lot to be said for music in which subtlety, if not measured understatement, is an organising principle, there is every danger that an artist can short-change an audience simply by not doing enough rather than doing too much.
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