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It’s not just the recurrent meditations on mortality that makes Ma Fleur even more heart-rendingly beautiful than 2002’s Everyday, it’s also how The Cinematic Orchestra’s new album actually feels.
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While Ma Fleur is no better than The Cinematic Orchestra’s previous scores, it is equally gorgeous in how it responds to and ekes out intellectual quagmires of song.
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With its frequent emotional crescendos, then quiet dying away, Ma Fleur is more than a match for its predecessors, and will undoubtedly cement The Cinematic Orchestra’s reputation as intellectually sustaining performers of beautiful, emotive music.
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Though this is their most vocal-oriented album yet... it's actually the instrumental tracks - 'Child Song' and 'As the Stars Fall' - that have the most depth.
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Neither jazz nor trip-hop nor any other label you might care to slap on it, Ma Fleur delineates an immensely moving, utterly distinct night-time world which is a pleasure to inhabit.
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Much like that of the band's previous albums, the value of Ma Fleur is in its exploration of how to grip an emotion out of simplicity.
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FilterThe songs are almost too precious, demanding total attention to appreciate the subtle fluctuations in texture and tone. [#25, p.102]
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Ma Fleur is a triumphant return for The Cinematic Orchestra.
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Ma Fleur is heavy on atmospheric standing still, with tunes not beguiling enough to make listeners stop to examine them up close.
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Uncut[A] remarkable album. [Jun 2007, p.91]
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MojoAn eerily oneiric album of light, space and silence. [Jun 2007, p.100]
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If you enjoy ultra mellow jazz meanderings with the occasional slinky vocals that sound like they could be playing in the background at a mainstream coffee chain, Ma Fleur will provide in spades.
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It’s a demanding and complex album that has proven to be one of the best albums I’ve heard in years, a universal soundtrack to a life that requires no visuals to imagine.
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Slow, sugary, and perhaps a little too safe, this is not quite the return that Cinematic fans will want it to be.
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Predictably, the Orchestra works considerably better as a symphony band than an orchestral accompaniment.
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Its sharpness in wake of modesty might make it The Cinematic Orchestra’s biggest accomplishment to date.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 14 out of 17
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Mixed: 2 out of 17
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Negative: 1 out of 17
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Nov 19, 2014
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May 28, 2014
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MikeSJan 27, 2009Brilliant record. More atmosphere than the rest of the music industry's latest releases.