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Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.
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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
*LIMITED TO 50 SIGNED COPIES*
...from this limited one-off run of 250 copies on crystal clear 12" 45rpm vinyl, pressed by Seabass Vinyl in Scotland.
Featuring an alternate version of 'Broken' from the album 'To Dream is to Forget' on the A-side, and three 'source material' tracks on the B-side, which extract three of the layers from this extremely dense arrangement -
A1: Broken (Alternate Version)
B1: Broken Source I: Clarinets & Strings
B2: Broken Source I: Drums & Bullroarer
B3: Broken Source III: Glass, Metal & Wood
Includes unlimited streaming of Broken
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.
ships out within 10 days
edition of 50
3 remaining
Purchasable with gift card
£30GBPor more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Limited to 250 copies, crystal clear 12" 45rpm vinyl.
Featuring an alternate version of 'Broken' from the album 'To Dream is to Forget' on the A-side, and three 'source material' tracks on the B-side, which extract three of the layers from this extremely dense arrangement -
A1: Broken (Alternate Version)
B1: Broken Source I: Clarinets & Strings
B2: Broken Source I: Drums & Bullroarer
B3: Broken Source III: Glass, Metal & Wood
Includes unlimited streaming of Broken
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.
ships out within 10 days
Purchasable with gift card
£22GBPor more
Signed ltd edition PLUS 1 of 5 test pressings
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Only 3 available. Signed ltd edition 12" crystal clear vinyl EP, plus one of the five test pressings.
Test pressing can remain with manufacturers labels or be signed on request.
Includes unlimited streaming of Broken
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Following on from 2023’s critically acclaimed album ‘To Dream Is To Forget’, Hidden Orchestra returns with the ‘Broken EP’, centred around a composition which first appeared on the aforementioned record, however now taking on various new guises all of which boast new ways to beguile the listener.
Its musical centrepiece 'Broken' is a piece of music that really exemplifies a unique writing process…
Coming to life after producer Joe Acheson found a cardboard box full of the broken remains of a large mirror, and recorded the sounds of it tumbling around in the box - these sounds (including the deep booming bass drum, made by slowing the recordings down) can be heard at the start of the track, and run the whole way through, shuffling, tinkling and booming.
Further embellishing his sonic palette with the sounds of other broken items and all manner of intriguing audio, the track utilises creaking door hinges, zithers with untuned strings, cracked wooden soundboards, an old egg-slicer, a deconstructed glockenspiel, as well as the truly rare sound of a lightning bolt exploding directly above him.
Trying to reduce the sound of Hidden Orchestra into an easily understandable genre or style is a mammoth task, and ‘Broken’ is no exception. Intricate live breakbeat drum patterns usually more often found in electronic music as samples provide a whirlwind of energy upon which articulate sound design and a haunting and tense lines of woodwinds dance. The huge array of remarkable and unique sounds and musical ideas form a truly capricious piece of work that reminds of cinematic scores, electronica, and modern classical, yet is none of these.
On top of this ensemble cast of once-functional equipment and audio oddities he programmed drum parts from a number of different recordings of drummers Jamie Graham and Tim Lane, and a screeching bombastic bass clarinet riff supplied by another longtime collaborator - Jack McNeill. Further adorned with orchestral textures - chorales and fragments of improvisation from Jack McNeill's clarinet, and a big string section created from recordings of Poppy Ackroyd's violin and Rebecca Knight's cello.
Eventually ballooning into a track that has hundreds of layers and a thick dense texture full of details that are hard to pick out in the main track - which led to the creation of this EP with its three "source material" tracks, containing different elements of the final track which can be heard in isolation, as tracks in their own right - the clarinets and strings, the drums and bullroarer, and a track containing all of the glass, metal and wooden objects.
Each sound group is a unique listen, compiled alongside their collective glory by way of both a new alternative mix from the album version, and a shorter edited version for moments requiring more immediate impact.
credits
released September 20, 2024
Joe Acheson – piano, bass guitar, zithers, analog synth, glockenchimes, egg-slicer harp, field recordings.
Jack McNeill – clarinet, bass clarinet.
Poppy Ackroyd – violin.
Rebecca Knight – cello.
Tim Lane – drums, bullroarer.
Jamie Graham – drums.
Written, recorded and produced by Joe Acheson.
Mastered by Matouš Godík.
Artwork by Tom Newell.
Design and Layout by Ruth Keating.
The new EP from DC's Beauty Pill balances between oblique avant-garde composition and sly art-pop, making both sound effortless. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 7, 2021
