New Dance Orchestra: Electronica

Well, this one is a bit of an oddity. Two respected members of the Prog scene come together to make a Dance/Pop album that sounds somewhere between 80s Disco, standard Dance music and some of Madonna's less straight ahead work.

Combining the talent of Yes/Asia/Buggles man Geoff Downes and Karnataka/Mostly Autumn/Panic Room frontlady Anne-Marie Helder, the pair initially made Electronica by New Dance Orchestra available at live shows only. However with interest in the project growing, the album now gets a full release. For many the musical departure from the pair will be a bit of a shock, but with the style of what's on offer here well documented, the question really has to be do they do it well?

Downes handles all the instrumentation on the album, creating the melodies, rhythms and sounds, allowing Helder to give an expansive performance far removed from what we've come to expect from this talented lady. That she pulls it off with the understated style that she does here is testament to her vocal talent and versatility. Where things are let down a little though is the dated nature of much of what Downes has constructed, with even a non-Dance expert like myself finding what's contained here to be far from cutting edge dance floor stuff, or current chart fodder. Possibly that wasn't the intention, but in the end the likes of "Forgiven" comes across like some strange amalgam of Madonna and Enya, with Pop beats thumping in the foreground as Helder lays down a sweet, even, reserved vocal. "Movin' On" ups the tempo, effects and sounds swirling, while "Jinx" adds an eerie melody over a solid stomp of a beat. Again Helder shines, her voice positively mesmerising and raising simple ideas far beyond their station, before "Golden Day" reins everything in, the beat thankfully more subdued, yet somehow the results are even less effective.

In the end what Downes and Helder have created here is a decent, if unspectacular, diversion from the "day catalogue" and possibly more an exercise in artistic fulfilment than a stab at widening their audience. For fans of their more celebrated work, what New Dance Orchestra stand for may be just a little too left field, while for true Dance aficionados, I can't help but feel that Electronica will be a little too tame and twee. In the end this is an album for fans only and even then, it won't be one that gains a huge amount of play time.

Track Listing
1. Shine On
2. Forgiven
3. Movin' On
4. Rainbow's End
5. Breaking The Spell
6. Love Is Not Enough
7. Jinx
8. Hanging By A Thread
9. Remember The Day
10. Dance To The Music Of Time
11. Walking Through The Fire
12. Golden Days

Added: March 13th 2014
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: New Dance Orchestra Online
Hits: 1988
Language: english

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