The Hidden Cameras - Origin: Orphan

The Hidden Cameras released their new album Origin: Orphan yesterday on Arts & Crafts records. The music is very orchestrated and controlled, which I get the feeling is typical of the band despite my relative lack of familiarity with their back-catalogue. The instrumentation is very diverse, more often than not omitting the standard indie rock instruments (i.e.-guitar), and the synth sounds are prominent. Also, you have to enjoy the multiplicity of vocal lines, and the Hidden Cameras employ both polyphony and homophony. Overall, the album has a somber, melancholy tone with mostly slow tempo-ed tracks, with only a couple of exceptions. For me it is these tracks, "In the NA" and "Underage" are the stand outs. I lose interest in most of the others, but if your a stanch fan of theirs, or of virtually everything that the Magnetic Fields have ever written, you'll probably love the whole album. If you want to preview a couple tracks, check out my previous post. You can buy the album here.