Album: Hidden Orchestra Archipelago Tru Thoughts bbb

Hidden Orchestra's Joe Acheson characterises Archipelago as a voyage round a group of islands, all built from the same materials, but each with its own topography.

Wave and bird sounds break the surface of some tracks, while "Overture" subsides and swells in a flow of clarinet, strings and vibes. It's maritime in mood: strings wrap around the trip-hop groove of "Vorka" like mist. The sound is akin to a Hebridean Portishead, or a chamber-jazz ensemble with funkier grooves, two drummers carrying the sleek bodywork of trumpet, piano, violin, harp and twinkling Scandinavian kantele.

Download: Overture; Vorka; Flight; Spoken