The Canadians’ second album is a masterpiece from the school of extended rock orchestras.
Open House: “Open Organ” is the name of the invitation from the Bell Orchestra, powerful and dynamic, a fanfare ride through the world as it shows itself out there. The second album’s bonus track, available via download code, was recorded at Arcade Fire Studio “Petite Eglise” (tape machine manipulations!) and continued at John McEntire in Chicago (with saxophonist Colin Stetson!). But before that there was a songwriting process, which was connected with a probably breathtaking view.
The six-piece band from Montreal had retreated to a rehearsal room with large windows in the Rocky Mountains. How views and sounds came together here, we can explore on this work. Formed in 1999 by two would-be Arcade Fire members, multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry and violinist Sarah Neufeld, the Bell Orchestra was somewhat lost in the storm that Win Butler’s band was soon to ignite.
Here and now, these songs, first released in 2009, claim a place of honor in the history of alternative pop. On the fine line between big band and post-rock ensemble, Parry & Co. could play instrumentals in wind force 9, lose themselves in ambient meadows, practice effervescence and calming down – heaven for friends of texture and dynamics. Time has fallen on the nine original tracks, they bring this frenzied desire for interaction (trumpets, steel guitars, melodica and electronics) into the present. Plus point of the re-release: three strong bonus tracks.