Making the soundtrack to an imaginary film is a musician’s cliché, but if any band has the name (and pedigree), it’s Jason Swinscoe’s Cinematic Orchestra. For the fifth album in the eight years since Swinscoe put the band together, he’s recruited Lamb’s Lou Rhodes and ‘60s soul singer Fontella Bass, as well as a new Canadian singer by the name of Patrick Watson. He appears on ‘To Build a Home,’ a restrained piano piece that harks back to Jeff Buckley, or even a less bombastic Antony and the Johnsons. It is a progression for Swinscoe – although the song finishes with strings that are vintage Cinematic Orchestra. It is also something of a departure for Swinscoe’s long-time home Ninja Tune; but the label’s cut-up pastiche and breakbeat was always rooted in soul, and I get the impression this is an album they’ve been dying to make. As a soundtrack to a film, Ma Fleur is no blockbuster and it’s tempting to dismiss the record as the adult-oriented middle of the road end of the road for the Ninjas. But like ‘60s purveyors of sophisticated soul, such as Ripple or Lonnie Liston Smith, Ma Fleur is a rich and, dare I say it, mature album. Expertly layered, as you would expect from the former DJ, with clattering percussion, understated songs and gently plucked guitar strings, there is rarely a sound out of place. It is unlikely to get thrill-seekers’ hearts racing, but for the rest of us Ma Fleur shows that music doesn’t have to be over the top, or rebellious for that matter, to be a great listen.
Matthew Levinson
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