NORTH SEA RADIO ORCHESTRA

Gap Species download via Bandcamp Bridging the Gap; chamber ensemble’s unreleased recordings from 1998-2006.

When Craig and Sharron Fortnam formed NSRO it was with the intention of writing music with a classical feel. Not remarkable in itself perhaps, but the resultant hybrids have sounded both modern and ancestral, and so there’s no chance of this collection of vintage material feeling like old news. The fact that Gap Species consists of outtakes carries no implications for its quality and it’s a welcome addition to the catalogue of one of the UK’s most singular groups. This is richly melodic but sparsely-voiced music of gently flowing, rhapsodic organ lines, with trumpets and trombones in duet, chiming percussion, and clarinets, cellos and pianos playing in strange parlours. It occasionally reminds of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra in its out-of-timeness. Sharron’s beautifully enunciated, pure-toned vocals seem to have not come out of any particular tradition; The Flower sounds like it could be by a singer-songwriter, or by Purcell or Handel. On Stations Green, her voice glides across animated strings, with James Larcombe of Stars In Battledress on organ. The vocals on these tracks were recorded at Tim Smith of Cardiacs’ studio and he sings in the chorus of Move Eastward Happy Earth. MB