Disco de The Cinematic Orchestra: “Ma Fleur”

After having heard all previous albums, I was surprised to hear the vocals - but they mesh so well with the Cinematic sound. Each song flows well from one to the next, and from the last to song back around to the first... if put on repeat...it's a fabulous concept album; a short story or perhaps a novel put to music. Listen to it forward and over again. If you like their previous outputs, and you can get into both the pop/ethereal and RnB/hip hop vocals you get here, you just may get into this.... a la Fila Brazillia's jump leads or Jazzanova's latest series of Secret Love compilations. And I love the photos included with the CD - must buy for fans.

If you are expecting the 'old' TCO, this release may not deliver on that front as the last reviewer stated. However if you are a fan of singer/songwriter, torchsong and soundscape/soundtrack genres, you'll find these beautiful melodies, amazing vocals and sometime sparse arrangments stunning and worthy of repeated infinite listenings.

As a fan of Cinematic Orchestra, having greatly enjoyed all their previous albums, this work may rightly be seen as their best effort. The lush musicality of their previous work is still here, but now the entire album invokes a certain state of mind. For me, it is about nostalgia and beauty; love and loss. Previous albums were focused on the quality of individual songs making up a cool set list. However, this album carries its theme so wondrously that you almost have to hear the whole thing to appreciate what they've created. Not that the individual songs have lost any of their quality though. So don't be afraid to pick this up if you want more Cinematic Orchestra, whether it's your introduction to them or otherwise.

Ma Fleur is a concept album. And its tone is a decidedly blue one; thus, music not meant for clear sunny days.

Rather, one plays it when he finds himself surrounded by nothing but clouds, with nothing to do, but listen to these beautiful musical raindrops.

4 and 1/2 stars

_Ma Fleur_ represents a radical departure from the Cinematic Orchestra that we knew and loved. Whereas their earlier album were interested in grand, sweeping arrangements to fill all the available sonic space, _Ma Fleur_ has simplified arrangements that emphasize and clears out that sonic space. The "orchestra" aspect has been reduced to a guitar -- but the net effect is no less stunning. The simplicity lends itself to a much more personal and intimate album.

For example, the piano chords and strings that start off "That Home" maintain a quiet dignity throughout. "Familiar Ground," possibly the best track on the album, has some terrific emotional builds, augmented by the shoegazer-influenced electric guitar strums. The earnest vocals carry a wonderful sense of melancholy -- listen to how the chorus ends the track on an unresolved chord.

More than anything, the album as a whole sounds like a journey -- one track leads sonically into the next. Each track on his earlier album was its own discrete journey, but _Ma Fleur_ pulls them together beautifully. Thus, the reverberating guitar lick that lead out "As the Stars Fall" reprises at the start of "Into You." Louise Rhodes, who whispers seductively betwixt the layers of guitar plucking and whispering on "Music Box," quickly takes the lead in the episodic "Time and Space." Patrick Wilson ends the album on "To Build a Home," an extension of the opening track.

But for those who mourn the loss of the "old" Cinematic Orchestra, there are still several tracks that have the angular jazz of the original, like the freeform clarinets on the title track. Fontella Bass, who brought immense power on the _Every Day_ album, lends her bluesy lungs again on "Breathe." But instead of demanding another repeat of their earlier success, why not bask in the glory of their new work? A flower by another other name would smell as sweet.