Album: Bell Orchestre / As Seen Through Windows

Artist: Bell Orchestre

Title: As Seen Through Windows

Crafting carefully arranged instrumental pop, this band's Montreal provinance might suggest they sound like something in the Constellation stable, and there is undoubtedly something to that. But at the start of this album, the tracks sound more like cautiously constructed, hermetically sealed music boxes, bringing to mind, say, the sounds created by Amiina.

The music mostly doesn't rely on hooks or melodies, working in textures instead, and something like a forward narrative progression, which feels especially present on "Elephants". Having said that, that somewhat over-employed adjective "cinematic" didn't pop into my head until I was two-thirds of the way through, as this is a band clearly smart enough to avoid the most obvious marks that instrumental bands hit for easy catharsis. This is a good album, but it left me wondering in what circumstances I would deploy it for future enjoyment - it rises above "background music", but isn't what I'd normally be looking for in the foreground, either. Exception: "Bucephalus Bouncing Ball" (an Aphex Twin cover, interestingly) has what we might crassly call the "Arts & Crafts" moment, where the drums pick up and the horns get a little punchy, ripping a little hole in the clouds to let some sunshine stream around.

It's a worthy album, and nice to see A&C isn't just settling for radio-ready rockers.