The Village Orchestra – I Can Hear The Sirens Singing Again [Highpoint Lowlife]

Have you ever watched a film turned all the sound off and put your own music on top and thought to yourself ‘wow this is really cool’ well TVO took this to the next logical step. Being a bit of a whiz on the buttons he decided to make his own soundtrack to a Japanese telly program that he got into and just couldn’t shake. The program is a surreal detective style thriller of sorts called, ‘MDP Psycho’ and not only did this inspire TVO to make a soundtrack of his own for it, but also perform it at a live screening too. Now I have no clue about what the show is like at all so can’t judge it against that, but the thing is you really don’t need to too enjoy this piece of work it stands alone as an ambient voyage through sound.

I Can Hear The Sirens Singing Again shows another side to The Village Orchestra’s work, there are no deep dance floor techno beats here. All that is stripped back in favour of glitches, loops, pads and atmosphere. It’s one long trip to the dark side with a brooding melancholy. A sound collage of found sounds and recordings are intertwined with deep and low bass and drones, along with clips and glitches. There isn’t too much in the way of straightforward melody and blessed out moments here, it’s an eyes down late night piece.

Even if you haven’t seen the film that goes along with the sound, which is probably a lot of people going by how niche Japanese TV is over here, you start to make up a plot all of your own as you listen. You hear snippets of a phone ring as a disturbing atmosphere builds and you wonder what the conversation could have been. Backwards sung melody’s float by in a blissful fashion and you wonder if a beautiful girl just walked by. Sounds of some sort of subterranean chemistry lab bubble bellow the surface before drones of insect noises and droning pads take over. All of this paints pictures in your minds eye of a movie that only exists in the listeners’ head.

As a stand alone piece it works a treat TVO has created a dense and interesting ambient soundscape full of drama and darkness. It really is a journey through sound and space, a narrative can be seen all the way through as there are so many different sections with only small themes being repeated every now and again, it’s a story. The Village Orchestra shows a mediational side to his artistry putting the beats aside for the moment and concentrating on capturing a story instead of the dance floor.

Buy: The Village Orchestra – I Can Hear The Sirens Singing Again

http://highpointlowlife.com/