If the glorious first single to be lifted from Jason Swinscoe’s sophomore album was proof of anything, “All The You Give” reinforced the sheer ambition that drives his Cinematic Orchestra ever closer to the perfect album. Signed to Ninja Tune, this amorphous collection of musicians which revolves around producer Swinscoe and Phil France, early singles and 1999′s Motion longplayer were as far as they could be from the usual downtempo fare flooding the record shops of the time and, unusually, achieved mainstream acclaim as well as satisfying the sonic desires of the post-jazz cognoscenti.
“The reaction to that first album was something of a surprise,” opens Jason, “in that it really came from a couple of years locked in the studio and didn ‘t really have much to do with dance music or even bear much relation to what else Ninja were up to at that point. Essentially I’d set the whole thing up and was writing sample-based stuff on my own but had reached a point where I found it really hard to finish things. Part of that came to down to a bit of inexperience with the technology on my part, as well as finding it hard to shift key changes and progressions but because those early tracks used soundtrack elements and strings to create textures, it became more and more obvious that it’d make sense to bring musicians in to create more of a dynamic.”
Enter Phil France to Jason’s Orchestra. “We hadn’t seen each other for a few years and I bumped into him playing bass in an indie band. It was just a case of giving him a tape to see if he was up for doing something and we went from there, trying out just the bass and sax on a couple of the tracks I’d done already before a full band grew around us. It was quite an odd way of working in that I’d do the pre-production before getting everyone together, running the loops and recording the musicians jamming over the top. From there I’d take what I’d got from there and go back into my own studio, strip everything right back down and rebuild it using the individual parts that I’d recorded.”
And so to the latest album, Everyday. More soulful than the swirling orchestral delights of Motion, touring with the live band having smooth sampled edges to the point where the intricacies of the studio are lost to a more organic flow.
“We started it a year and a half ago, but I struggled a little with difficult-second-album syndrome,” laughs Jason. “It’s difficult when you put everything into that first album, your whole life experience really, and then have to come up with a second in such a comparatively short time. First and foremost I wanted to make forward steps, progressing the whole thing musically as well as reflecting what had been going on culturally with the rest of music. It helped that Phil was much more involved in the writing, as well as honing things down as we worked the live shows and the line up for the band changed a little, where we brought a couple of new people on board.”
The most striking addition, takes the form of featured vocalist Fontella Bass. Jason explains how they came to work with the legendary soul singer. “Songs have always been something that I’ve loved in music and I can’t quite explain why I left it so long but what prompted me was when we first started doing live shows, where I was using a keyboard to trigger the vocal samples that I’d used on the first album. It all struck me as a bit wack, particularly as the rest of the band were sounding so tight. Although she’s perhaps best known for “Rescue Me,” the track that inspired me to work with Fontella specifically was her performance on a track called “Theme De Yoyo” from the Art Ensemble of Chicago, which also featured her husband Lester Bowie. It’s just a fantastic blend of funk and jazz with really heavy grooves that go mental for a few bars.”
“Oddly enough it was just a case of calling her up,” he laughs, before adding “I was being careful not to freak her out as a stalker or something. I spoke to her about Lester and the whole Art Ensemble vibe, particularly a score they’d done for a film called Les Stances A Sophie, which is one of my favourite albums. From there Ninja sent her over some music which she really connected with.”
“It felt wonderful that Jason took the time to get in touch with me,” explains Fontella from her home in St Louis. “We talked for maybe two hours that first time – about music and the industry and when I received his first album I loved it. Although my latest release takes in everything from jazz, blues, traditional gospel, contemporary gospel and R&B, I thought that Jason’s music and that of his contemporaries related directly to my earlier influences. I feel that music is universal and as long as it’s spiritual and connects with peoples souls, I’m willing to explore whatever possibilities come my way.”
Within three months, Phil and Jason were in the studio. “I’d done collaborations in the past, where a DAT is sent over and I find all of that really disappointing so when the opportunity came up to go over, Phil and I booked our flights to the states and spent four days hanging out with Fontella.”
“We had a wonderful time here,” adds Fontella. “They had an opportunity to meet my children and grandchildren and though we went to the studio during the day, we did manage to out to a couple of hot spots here and meet a few great musicians! They already had the music. I just felt the vibes and sang what I was feeling spiritually.”
“Essentially I see Cinematic Orchestra as a big family,” says Jason. “There are so many people involved – to the point where my girlfriend Eva did the video – but what we all have in common is this love of music and a freedom to be as creative as we can. With the tracks recorded with Fontella we had the rhythm section and a rough melody and she just got on with writing the lyrics. She dedicated the song to Lester and put so much emotion into it, really letting loose and improvising with that growling, deep gospel edge that she has. At the end of one of the takes, Phil and I realised that she was crying, the first time since Lester had passed away and it was an incredible moment – one of those connections with a person that you don’t get very often and I’d hope that the whole album has that sort of presence and warmth about it.”
Kingsley Marshall is an academic and journalist who lectures in film and contributes music and film criticism, features and reviews to Little White Lies, Shook and Big Screen magazines in the UK. He was appointed Technical Editor at Clash magazine in 2010, where he writes a technology and games column.