I was asked this morning how I enjoyed last night's performance by The Cinematic Orchestra. The person asking me was, themself, transported on a "synth cloud towards heaven" and true enough I was very much in a transient state after an hour of melodious humming by the super jazz orchestra.

 

One of the hardest things about writing music reviews is not knowing how to mark the performance. Does the band get points for being technically brilliant? Do they steal points for their personalities? Do they get marked on whether you like the style of music? The answer is yes to all of these I know, and yet I still find it hard to render an objective verdict on The Cinematic Orchestra's performance to a full house at Her Majesty's Theatre on Monday night. 

 

 

Jason Swinscoe conducted the very competent and fully intertwined group of musicians in their delivery of truly amazing and very unique music. I struggled to agree with the definition of these guys as a jazz/electroic group because there was hardly enough of the improvisation that's so addictive about jazz and very little of the pulsing power you associate with electronic music. The Cinematic Orchestra creates music that defies both of these genres and occupies a soundscape somewhere just before you plunge into your subconscious.

 

Phil France's double bass lures your ears toward a warm and washing rhythm that wraps your entire body in the music of the Orchestra while drummer, Luke Flowers creates the delicate yet powerful beat, which ties in the sometimes discordinant sound. I would have really liked to see France get more ad-lib with his fancy bass (at least once in the set), so I could truly believe this was jazz but the only musician who seemed comfortable enough to wail was Tom Chant on Saxophone and he wasn't great. 

 

As brilliant as I'm sure this music is, I didn't really "get it". And that's probably why a lot of people really like The Cinematic Orchestra - because they get it and other, less sophisticated troglodytes like myself, simply fall asleep with our chin in our chest. But my, what a beautiful sleep.