If you wanted to step deep into the Canterbury Sound rabbit hole, you could do worse than visit Matthew Watkins' Canterbury Sans Frontieres site, which contains 85 podcast episodes of three hour delves into Canterbury and related music, with some often wonderful discoveries.
It's where I first encountered North Sea Radio Orchestra.
The Canterbury label feels very tenuous, and seems based partly on leader Craig Fortnam's work with John Greaves (Henry Cow and National Health) on the Folly Bololy project to pay tribute to Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom, and partly their similar feel to Penguin Cafe Orchestra, where Caravan stalwart Geoff Richardson was a collaborator.
And like much of Penguin Cafe Orchestra's work, it's gentle and interesting without overwhelming. It opens with Arcade, a simple instrumental with an almost medieval feel to it, then Sharon Fortnam's first vocal outing on the pleasant Vishnu Schist. There's a nice cover of Robert Wyatt's The British Road, a quick guitar piece (Guitar Miniature No 4), then amother pleasant song, Queen Of All The Day and Night. Title track Dronne, starts off reminiscent of some of Tim Blake's Gong electronic work, and has a good feel to it, with the orchestra gradually entering, taking us to Alsace Lorraine, an nondescript duet, and the final piece (in two parts) Dinosaurus Rex, a lively and cheery instruments.
It's an enjoyable listen, possibly defying categorisation, but certainly worth revisiting.
3* - a gentle, enjoyable album. Good rather than great.
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