Spectrum Orchestrum
It's About Time

French quintet Spectrum Orchestrum is devoted to the sonic search for what they call “le spectral”, at least if we are to believe the press information that feels a little bit shorthanded. They look to build bridges between the familiar and unknown, things like that are tossed around the press information. What I didn’t find in the information was a discography but research indicates that they have one digital and one CD album released so far, the first that was digital was released in 2013; the band itself was formed back in 2007. And this new album is called It’s About Time, the question is: about time for what?

Jazz, progressive rock, krautrock are genre names I see tossed around when this album/band are referenced in different outlets around the web. It is improvised, it is jazzy, and it has some progressive touches and so on. It is a fairly interesting release from the creative standpoint, at the same time it isn’t, as they haven’t really built around an idea just improvised an album that has three tracks where one is insanely long. I think there will be many who think this album is a bit slow and incoherent, not really captivating and at times I am not really sure if I am to look at it as a studio album or as some kind of art installation, it probably would be seen in a more positive light if it were the latter.

It is any good? I ask myself that question over and over, and I am not really sure that I have an answer. A bit boring, a plus for thinking for themselves and doing things that isn’t the common thing, the production is rather good as well, but it all still lands in the sense that the album is somewhat boring. It doesn’t really grab my attention at any time and mostly I think about the artwork and see that as the best thing about the album. The long second track gives me this feeling of “it’s about time” when it finally ends. And now that I am working on the conclusion it is once again proven that you can’t just be original, or you can’t just be very good, you need to be both if you want to make great music.

I am not really sure about who this album will appeal to, the band members perhaps but who else? It just isn’t one of those album that grabs your attention, that makes you want to hear it, neither is it a musical journey through discovery of fascinating sonic scapes and emotions. It is just some improvisations that never really take off, perhaps they need a bit more direction, and in the end I would say that their search doesn’t really take them anywhere.

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