Midnight Orchestra - A Clearing
by Maarten Schiethart
published: 1 / 10 / 2006

Label:
Midnight Orchestra
Format: CD
intro
Unpretentious lo-fi triphop on first album from Befordshire-baed two piece the Midnight Orchestra
Usually it's the self-released albums that get priority with me but due to a postal hick-up Bedfordshire's the Midnight Orchestra's first album only now gets the attention it deserves. The duo of Tom Hubmann and Jack Sharp, no not an orchestra at all, debut with a loungy mish-mash of "ballads" and downbeat electronica. Edgy and sharp, 'A Clearing' is on the black and white nouvelle vague movie side of sounding "cinemascopic". This little outfit does offer an odd mixture which also includes immaculate harmony singing. Here's an 'indie' album that has no off-kilter expertise in sounding wacky to the core, yet instead is a smooth blend of matching bits from various styles. Midnight Orchestra bring on the brass section in 'The Searcher' just when you thought you were being lulled asleep by the first seven tracks. And as the brass section - probably a sample - is withdrawn again, the Midnight Orchestra sink you back into their warm bath of lush and lazy mysteria. 'A Clearing' is an even, modest and unpretentious showcase of lo-fi triphop from a village in England. Albeit not shockingly original.
Track Listing:-
1 Intro2 Burried
3 Cold Out
4 Grey Matter
5 Dawn's Child
6 Our Passage Home
7 The Searcher
8 When They Come
9 Outro
10 Bonus Track - Whispering Hollow
interviews |
Interview (2007) |
![]() |
Californian reggae act the Aggrolites have recently finished playing a stadium tour of Britain playing support to Madness. Daniel Cressey chats to the group at a headline date at the London Underworld about the uniqueness of being a reggae band in America |
most viewed articles
current edition
Deb Googe and Cara Tivey - InterviewJack Frost - As Seen on TV
Nils Petter Molvaer - El Molino, Barcelona, 24/4/2025
John McKay - Interview
Editorial - July 2025
Robert Forster - Interview
When Rivers Meet - Waterfront, Norwich, 29/5/2025
Kruder and Dofmeister - Paral-lel 62, Barcelona, 27/4/2025
Skunk Anansie - Old Market, Brighton, 16/5/2025
Yardbirds - Des Plaines Theater, Des Plaines, 18/4/2025
most viewed reviews
current edition
Davey Woodward - Mumbo in the JumboVultures - Liz Kershaw Session 16.06.88
Billy Nomates - Metalhorse
HAIM - I Quit
Vinny Peculiar - Things Too Long Left Unsaid
Peter Doolan - I Am a Tree Rooted to the Spot and a Snake Moves Around Me,in a Circle
Pulp - More
Garbage - Let All That We Imagine Be The Light
Morcheeba - Escape The Chaos
Little Simz - Lotus
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart