It was twelve long years ago that London’s The Cinematic Orchestra last released a new studio record, Ma Fleur (QRO review). Other than some movie score work not long after Fleur, we’ve heard very little from them (though their songs have become staples in film & television). Back then, a contemporary act doing jazz-inspired orchestral music with guest vocalists was relatively rare, but not by now, where modern artists & artistes have been collecting strings & brass to fulfill their grand ideas like a content-hungry streaming video service. Yet The Cinematic Orchestra still manage to stand out.
To note is that The Cinematic Orchestra are not regular musicians adding in an orchestra, but an orchestra adding in musicians. They are of today, not redoing Beethoven or John Williams, and, even in their size, play it intimate. That’s true in Believe’s instrumentals, “Lessons” and “The Workers of Art”, and on the pieces featuring guest singers. “To Believe” with Moses Sumney has stripped beauty into sweeping strings, while both “Wait for Now / Leave the World” (with Tawiah) and “Zero One / This Fantasy” (with Grey Reverend) utilize their slowness for power.
While prior, long-ago records had more of a jazz base, on To Believe The Cinematic Orchestra embrace their actual orchestra, without losing the connection to the listener.
