The Cinematic Orchestra

Born in London around Jason Swinscoe in the late 1990s, The Cinematic Orchestra develops a sound at the crossroads of nu jazz, downtempo, electronics and a film-score-like writing. The project relies on a band-based approach, where acoustic instrumentation, jazz improvisation and studio work blend in slow, detailed pieces often built up in layers. After a first album, Motion, released in 1999, The Cinematic Orchestra established itself on the Ninja Tune–related British scene with a hybrid format, as comfortable in concert as in music for image. Man with a Movie Camera in 2003, conceived as a new soundtrack for Dziga Vertov’s film, marks an important turning point in its career, followed by Every Day in 2002 and Ma Fleur in 2007, an album more focused on song and invited voices, notably those of Patrick Watson, Fontella Bass and Lou Rhodes. The group then scored The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos in 2009, continues its explorations between contemporary jazz, ambient and orchestral writing with In Motion #1 in 2012, and returns to the studio format with To Believe in 2019. On stage, The Cinematic Orchestra typically presents itself as an evolving ensemble, centered around Swinscoe and musicians from jazz and improvised music.