"An unusual and frankly remarkable project" - Mojo

In 1999, Ninja Tune quietly released Motion by a group calling themselves The Cinematic Orchestra. It was one of the surprise critical hits of the year, described as "one of the most innovative and brilliant albums the label has put out" (DJ) and ending that season topping the polls of the likes of Gilles Peterson.

The album was the work of one J. Swinscoe - actually a former Ninja employee - and a group of adventurous jazz musicians. Swinscoe's background took in both playing in various harcore acts and DJing house sets on London pirates, but his method (playing the band samples, getting them to jam around with them, recording that and then resampling and sequencing the results) and the results he got with it captured the imagination of listeners from all musical backgrounds.

The following year saw the release of an album of remixes that won Swinscoe still more acclaim, the broadsheets now taking note and The Guardian claiming that "it's frighteningly rare that a musician in a contemporary field brings so much generous knowledge and that magical tranforming power to their work, inviting you inside their world and introducing you to a new way of listening."

In addition, the group's live shows were beginning to gain them still more attention and it was one of these performances which provided the impetus behind the new album, Everyday.

Almost a household name in Portugal, Swinscoe and co were commissioned to write and perform a new score for Dziga Vertov's avant garde classic Russian film Man With A Movie Camera for the Porto Film Festival. Both the track of that title and "Evolution" had their basis in their performance to 3,500 people and other tracks on the album grew from elements in it.

But Cinematic have evolved as a group, too. J. always felt that the rest of the band's input was underestimated, but now he and bass-player Phil France very much share writing duties (even flying out to St Louis together to record the legendary Fontella Bass). In addition, the input of DJ Food man PC has been invaluable and J. points to the new impetus given to the band by the arrival of Luke Flowers. He smiles when he remembers the drummer's first show with the group, at Ronnie Scotts as part of Ninja's ten year anniversary: "He blew people's minds…"

As for 'Everyday,' J. considers it to be a more mature work than 'Motion,' not in a tired-old-rocker way, but perhaps in the fact that the increasing confidence of everyone in the group allows them to develop the music at a pace which is right for the ideas, rather than a preconceived notion of a four minute pop song. But J. also points to a new simplicity to the music, an emotional directness that doesn't have to confuse matters with nods to Lalo Schiffrin or Miles Davis or anyone else.

At root, though, J.'s basic impetus has stayed consistent throughout.
"We're trying to make music not 'muzak'. We're trying to make something which can achieve some kind of longevity...."

Maturity, emotional weight, musical longevity. In the days of Pop Idol, these may not be the most fashionable ideas. They can even leave you open to ridicule. But confidence is confidence and the results speak for themselves. If you don't get it, fuck you. Go and do something more boring instead…



Press release

Fresh from a UK and European tour in support for their critically-acclaimed second album for Ninja Tune, 'Every Day,' J.Swinscoe and band are now set to present their latest unique and groundbreaking musical offering - a live score to the classic silent flick 'Man with a Movie Camera'.

In late 1999, Swinscoe was asked by the organisers of the Porto Film Festival if the band wanted to score a soundtrack to a silent movie. It seemed a perfect opportunity to expand the ideas of TCO into the world which had givne them their name. But the difference was this was for a one off live performance. The film was Dziga Vertov's 'Man With A Movie Camera,' a 1929 early documentary cinema film from the Soviet Union. The performance in a old theatre space in Porto ended with a standing ovation of 3,500 people. Since that evening TCO have performed the score live at film festivals from Turkey to Scotland.

But the work also had a formative influence on the album that was to become 'Every Day'. Certain tracks that made it on to the album were written specifically for the score, but more than that it made Swinscoe and the band think in terms of combining sounds and textures and unfolding narratives over a period of time using those sounds. In particular, the title 'Every Day' was based on the narrative in the film, which portrays a day in the life of an idealised Soviet society, starting fom people waking up in the morning, moving through various work place ideas, then into leisure time and then back into the cinema...

Now TCO will take this unique project on a theatre tour starting at the Barbican in March and Ninja Tune will release a studio-recorded live DVD. An unmissable event and a must for cinephiles as well as music lovers, this promises to be a unique experience.

© Jūratė Kučinskaitė

Official Cinematic Orchestra site: www.cinematicorchestra.com