Joe Acheson’s Hidden Orchestra Project Shares New Single from Upcoming Album
With a new album on the way in September and two tracks already revealed, Joe Acheson’s Hidden Orchestra project offers another taste of things to come in the shape of new single - Scatter, released via his own Lone Figures imprint.
Conjuring intricate yet expansive worlds of sound is Acheson’s calling card, and this track displays yet another fine example of his attention to detail coupled with an almost unbridled creativity in exploring uncharted sonic territories. Genre-agnostic like most of his work, there are hints and tinges of hip hop, breaks, jazz, modern classical, and electronica as it confidently strides through an intriguing arrangement led by a powerful bass and scattergun drum lines. A piano melody shadows the bass throughout, amidst nuanced sound design through to an ominous breakdown and energetic and impactful finale.
Joe Acheson expands on the track further: "Scatter’ started as a drum arrangement, to which I added excerpts from a recording of George Gillespie playing the fujara - an overblown flute (without finger holes) from Slovakia. The slowed-down zither chords at the start of the piece were originally made for an installation with regular collaborators Limbic Cinema."
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After multiple albums with respected independent label Tru Thoughts, continued support from the likes of The Guardian, BBC6Music, FIP, JazzFM, several awards for innovative soundtrack work intertwined with AI and consistent global touring of an energetic and intriguing live show featuring two duelling drummers, their reach and influence has swollen to make them one of the highest regarded names in independent music today and has even led to collaborations beyond the world of music, with The British Library, KewGardens and National Trust all enlisting Acheson for unique installation projects. Yet regardless of the current brief in front of him, the initial mission statement to ‘create electronic music with acoustic means’ remains.
New album To Dream Is To Forget arrives after a particularly prolific recent period spent focusing on sound art installations, collaborations, and video game scoring for the producer. It is clear throughout that the experiences and skills involved with such a diverse array of projects is shining through and informing his palette in a way that is uncommon with most composers or musicians working today.
With the idea of ‘reimagining’ playing a key role in the creation of the project, the album title is taken from a line by Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa - "No one tires of dreaming, because to dream is to forget, and forgetting does not weigh on us, it is a dreamless sleep throughout which we remain awake."
Hidden Orchestra will be embarking on a European tour shortly after the album release with the full live band. Tickets available here: https://www.hiddenorchestra.com/dates
Pre-order the new album To Dream Is To Forget here: https://www.diggersfactory.com/shop/hiddenorchestra or here: https://hiddenorchestra.bandcamp.com/album/to-dream-is-to-forget
