Words by Hannah Lanfear
Since the deservedly stratospheric success of Arcade Fire, a trickle down effect of curious interest has been directed towards the side project of two of their number, Richard Parry and Sarah Neufield.
Despite the mutual band members, there’s little point drawing comparisons between the two bands. Bell Orchestre are a largely instrumental band, first evolving into a band from its first incarnation as a series of choreography scoring projects undertaken by Parry and Neufeld. Following their first release on Rough Trade, Recording A Tape The Colour Of Light, Belle Orchestre have regrouped to release their sophomore, As Seen Through Windows through Toronto’s own Arts and Crafts records.
Recorded in Montreal, a city attuned to its nearby countryside, the record has a beautiful expansiveness, the soundscapes imprinted with imagery and suggestion of nature’s wild surrounds that would be hard to capture in the confines of a city studio stuffed into endless suburbs.
Their style is often described as chamber music, or baroque pop, though there’s something much more compelling to their melodies than just an irreverent scraping together of musty genres. Their use of french horns and strings create melodies that thrum and sing, speaking volumes despite the absence of lyrics.
Opening with the dramatic grandeur of ‘Stripes’, it seems Bell Orchestre have added a further facet to their music, hinting at a jazzier touch than their debut, before crashing headlong into more sinister plains.
From the plaintive and tentative ‘Icicles/Bicycles’ that paints a lonesome yet hopeful scene, to the frenetic, ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’-styled, ‘The Gaze’, the album has a flowing dynamic, moving as a complete work rather than a series of songs. It’s almost a soundtrack for an unwritten fantasy children’s film, and perfect escape for a generation that grew up in the realms of Never-ending Story and Labyrinth.
As a lipsmacking side dish to this ambient epic, an EP of remixes has appeared to accompany the album, featuring work by wunderkind Kid Koala, dub meister Mad Professor, and electronic elitist Tim Hecker, and entitled Who Designs Nature’s How.
While As Seen Through Windows will never have the indie pop appeal of an Arcade Fire release, if justice is done it will be a treasured release from the year, perhaps not worthy of an out and out superb rating, but it’s special stuff nonetheless. A richly embroidered tapestry, it requires a little investment of imagination, but pays dividends (Arts and Crafts, 2009).
