Song of the Day: The Cinematic Orchestra “A Caged Bird/Imitations of Life (feat. Roots Manuva)”

Symphonic electronic jazz act The Cinematic Orchestra return with their incredible new album To Believe, the first new studio LP from the group in twelve years. Having previously given us a first glimpse of what to expect with the instantly sold out “A Caged Bird/Imitations Of Life” single featuring Roots Manuka, To Believe finds founding member Jason Swinscoe and longtime partner Dominic Smith constructing seven songs that transcend jazz through the group’s elegant orchestrations and electronics.

Calling on friends and collaborators both old and new, To Believe features an all-star line up of musicians and vocalists including Moses Sumney, Roots Manuva, Heidi Vogel, Grey Reverend (vocalist on Bonobo’s ‘First Fires’), Dorian Concept and Tawiah (Mark Ronson, Kindness), and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (Flying Lotus, Anderson Paak, Thundercat, Hiatus Kaiyote) who features on strings. Resulting in an incredibly rich in detail suite of harmonious, downtempo sounds as spoken through the band’s unique sonic language. To Believe is an album that will sit alongside the current wave of artists looking towards and crafting out their own worlds within jazz, from Kamasi Washington, Sons Of Kemet and BADBADNOTGOOD to Ólafur Arnalds and Floating Points, a movement that The Cinematic Orchestra helped pave the way decades ago.

As Ninja Tune writes, “a work that is not only their best and most definitive to date but by asking these questions it’s also that which best reflects the great beauty in life.”