Staff Reviews

North Sea Radio Orchestra - I A Moon

Review by Alex Yau

Literary content has been dumped for a more personal insight in third effort I A Moon.»

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north sea radio orchestra, two album releases with glowing reviews and several bbc6 sessions. now, after a short period of hibernation they return with their third album; 'i a moon'. 'i a moon' retains the unique north sea radio orchestra line-up of strings, woodwind, percussion, guitars, keyboards and voices but with a darker, less pastoral sound, with synth and percussion taking a more prominent role than on their previous two albums. another departure is a move away from using poetry to the more personal use of self-penned lyrics. on this new release, the influences apparent on the first two albums (britten, vaughan williams, reich, isb, 70's prog) have been augmented by a distinct whiff of krautrock while the angular guitars of 'ring moonlets' show a debt to the dual guitar textures of deerhoof. north sea radio orchestra continue to blend their influences in a highly imaginative and unusual way, while all the time having an ear for the beautiful, be it in melody, texture or chord. the uniqueness of nsro's music has meant they have never really belonged to any 'scene', having always defied categorisation. some continue to
include them in with the 'nu folk' phenomenon but in reality they continue as they have always done; doing it all themselves, ploughing their own furrow outside of any group or affiliation, creating beautiful, crafted music for music lovers uninterested in category or genre. it is in this light that they have set up their own label, 'the household mark', to release this record. the creative freedom that flows through this album in part springs from the liberating feeling
of not having to seek assurances from label, contemporaries or advisors. without them north sea radio orchestra have been free to create a unified collection of songs and instrumentals that will stand up to scrutiny for years to come.
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