The Hidden Cameras Origin: Orphan (Arts & Crafts)
3/5
By: Bronya Francis
Origin: Orphan is in parts a dark record, which would seem suitable in the current climate with the rise in popularity of Bat For Lashes and The Horrors shift to a gloomier, eerier sort of sound. But with pessimistic music comes a danger of monotony; this certainly is not the case with the opening track ‘Ratify The New’, an almost orchestral piece commencing with drones for the first two and a half minutes, which gently crescendo towards a final almighty drum crash- an excellent prelude to what could be a cracking album.
Yet in other parts of the record, the music is almost droll. Much of the hope created by the introductory song is shattered by the second track named ‘In The NA’, which seems like a bit of a joke, filled with film-music-style comical flourishes, hints of synth-pop and baritone silliness. The ‘80s pop influences do not cease at that sole track; they continue throughout the record, and are for the most part quite an accurate replica of the era; listen to ‘Underage’ and you can hear an unmistakably Beastie Boys influenced vocal from the ’Camera’s front man, Joel Gibb.
One of the triumphs of the record is ‘Kingdom Come’, starting with a thirty-second vocal with a barren guitar accompaniment, and then continues filled in by laid-back drum accompanying the sunny chords. Lovely and autumnal with a slight hint of The Shins about it, this is quite a lovely song… which is annoyingly ruined by garish ‘woo’s at in the final twenty seconds. Darn.
Origin: Orphan is a collection of hits and misses that result in a fairly average album, which is by no means unpleasant to listen to. Although it seems like The Hidden Cameras haven’t decided whether they want to be a laid-back hippy indie band or an inane retro pop group. We’d recommend you take the former route, please.
Artists in this article: The Hidden Cameras
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