North Sea Radio Orchestra
Encyclopedia
North Sea Radio Orchestra (generally abbreviated to NSRO) is an English
contemporary music ensemble and cross-disciplinary chamber orchestra
(plus chorus
).
The NSRO was set up mainly as a vehicle for the compositions of its musical director, Craig Fortnam
, but has also performed works by William D. Drake
and James Larcombe
. The ensemble is notable for its post-modern fusion of Romantic music
and later twentieth century forms, and for its bridging of the worlds of contemporary classical music
, British folk music
, London art-rock and poetry (setting music to poems by W.B. Yeats, Thomas Hardy
, Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Daniel Dundas Maitland).
and the human voice. Between six and ten members sing as "the North Sea Chorus".
Compositionally, the NSRO favours original material with elements of the following – tonal/melodic classical composition, English choral and festival music, modern and ancient folk music
, and minimalism
. Some improvisation is also encouraged. The NSRO themselves cite influences including Benjamin Britten
, television composer Vernon Elliott, The Incredible String Band, Vaughan Williams
, and more metaphysical influences such as “London clay
, water from the Thames and shingle from Bankside
”. Various critics have also made comparisons to the music of rock/classical/crossover musicians such as Simon Jeffes
’ Penguin Café Orchestra
, Sean O’Hagan’s High Llamas, Frank Zappa
, Clogs
, Sufjan Stevens
, Max Richter
, Nick Drake
, Virginia Astley
, Kate St John
and Peter Warlock
. Since 2010, the band has displayed a stronger influence of Krautrock
.
Another frequently-cited compositional influence on the NSRO is Tim Smith, leader of the British psychedelic rock group Cardiacs
(which incorporates influences including Early
and baroque music
). The NSRO is generally regarded as being part of the collection of varied musical groups connected with Cardiacs: it includes in its lineup one former and one current member of Cardiacs, plus at least five other musicians associated with the band.
For much of its existence, the NSRO was nostalgic
in presentation and themes. Between 2002 and 2010, the poetry chosen for musical settings tended to be classic 18th /19th/ early 20th century pre-modernist
material, chosen for "its natural song-like meter and rhyme". Craig Fortnam has also set modern texts written in the same nostalgic vein. The ensemble's subtler post-modern elements are generally restricted to the musical content. Since 2010, the band's work has focussed on setting Craig Fortnam's original lyrics.
. He went on to study composition and guitar at Dartington College of Arts
. Graduating in 1990, he returned to London. During this period period he composed material written for a variety of classical genres and ensembles, but also became involved with the London underground rock scene as a guitarist. One of the bands which he played in was the psychedelic
acoustic band Lake of Puppies, led by Fortnam's friend (and former Cardiacs keyboard player) William D. Drake
. The band gigged infrequently and recorded a few tracks, but never released an album. However, the band also featured singer and bass guitarist Sharron Saddington, whom Fortnam fell in love with. The two would also become longtime musical partners, and following their marriage, she would become known as Sharron Fortnam).
In 1995, Craig and Sharron teamed up with two other former Cardiacs (saxophonist/keyboard player Sarah Smith and drummer Dominic Luckman) to form Shrubby Veronica, soon to be renamed The Shrubbies. This band gigged enthusiastically in London for several years and released one EP (1997’s The Shrubbies) followed by the Memphis In Texas album in 1999.
However, Fortnam began to become disillusioned with the poor etiquette and atmosphere he encountered at rock concerts, later recalling "I began to realise that most people were there for a social thing, and people were talking all the way through. That just started annoying me and I thought, 'I'll write music that doesn’t have drums, that isn’t loud, and we'll play places where people sit down and then they won't talk." The Shrubbies split up in 2000, and the now-married Fortnams opted to pursue a more ambitious and flexible project which could showcase both Craig’s contemporary classical
compositions and Sharron’s unconventional singing voice (which blended elements of classical mezzo-soprano
with folk and pop stylings). Recruiting several other musicians, they set up the North Sea Radio Orchestra.
- St Martin, Ludgate
; St Clement Eastcheap
and St Olave Hart Street
. Taking place during 2002 and 2003, these concerts were publicised mainly by word-of-mouth. They were very much self-motivated occasions with a slightly antique/Edwardian feel (complete with home-made art-deco-styled concert programmes designed by Sharron Fortnam).
Members of NSRO for the first concert included the Fortnams, percussionist Hugh Wilkinson, cellist/composer Harry Escott
and organist/composer James Larcombe (of Stars In Battledress
), all of whom would continue in the ensemble long-term. Other performers included Nick Hayes (clarinet). Inspired by the success of the first few concerts, the NSRO began to expand (ultimately becoming a twenty-person ensemble). While the instrumentalists were mostly drawn from the classical world, the vocal chorus
contained former Shrubbies concert-mates and collaborators from the Fortnams’ time on the London art-rock circuit. These included current and former members of Stars In Battledress
, The Monsoon Bassoon
and Sidi Bou Said
. Stars In Battledress
frontman Richard Larcombe (brother of James) also shared some lead vocal parts with Sharron Fortnam. Later on, the Fortnam's former Lake Of Puppies bandmate William D. Drake
joined the ensemble as chorus singer and occasional solo pianist.
A few demo CDs were also made available at this time. These included early recordings of Craig Fortnam’s settings of Tennyson’s "The Flower" and "Every Day Hath Its Night" and the Zappa
-esque "Nest Of Tables". Early (and very positive) reviews of both the EP and the concerts appeared in underground publications including Organ
and Evophonic.
in The Guardian
. Walters drew attention to the initial difficulties in classifying the ensemble’s music but drew positive conclusions: “Is it ironic? Romantic retro? Or post-minimalist post-modernity? Behold the eleven-piece chamber orchestra beneath the chandeliers of Bush Hall, and you realise that Craig Fortnam, their leader and chief composer, is utterly serious in his quest for accessible, intelligent, non-trivial music…. What makes the NSRO special is Fortnam's gift for orchestration
, the deft and original way he puts deceptively simple materials in the hands of sophisticated performers. Melody pours from his pen on every page.”
In 2005, the NSRO released their first formal EP The Flower (on seven-inch vinyl) on the tiny London independent label Oof! Records. It contained a re-recorded version of “The Flower”, plus two more Tennyson settings (“The Lintwhite” and “Move Eastward Happy Earth”) and three instrumental pieces (“Music For Two Clarinets And Piano”, “Organ Miniature No. 1” and “Nest Of Tables”). On October 22, 2005, the NSRO played their first concert at St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square
, London.
On July 31, 2006 the North Sea Radio Orchestra performed at the Spitz, East London at a Music Orbit evening (a spin-off of the iF Festival) alongside NEM and Makeshift. The evening was presented as "a combination of gamelan
, improvisation, electronica
and lyrical chamber music
." In September 2006, an NSRO track appeared on the nu-folk compilation album Folk Off: New Folk and Psychedelia from the British Isles and North America - this was the Craig Fortnam solo performance of “Guitar Miniature”.
The NSRO performed at the Spitz again on October 28, 2006 (supported by William D. Drake
). This concert received a five-star review in the Daily Telegraph which nominated the "superbly disciplined chamber ensemble" as "the kind of deserving enterprise the BBC
should really be throwing money at," and singled out praise for Sharon Fortnam’s voice as possessing "dazzling, pre-industrial clarity." Reviewing the same concert, underground e-zine Bubblejam commented on the intimate quality of the music and the quality of the concert itself - "not unlike being at a church service or a poetry recital -- the crowd were completely rapt and utterly silent." The reviewer also concluded "for an all too brief time, they evoke an atmosphere of timeless beauty in the otherwise harsh environs of the East End. If I met an extra-terrestrial and wanted to communicate the concept of Englishness quickly and easily, I could do a lot worse than to play them the music of the North Sea Radio Orchestra."
– on Oof! Records. The album was recorded, engineered and mastered by former Cardiacs
member Mark Cawthra
and contained much of the ensemble’s live set from the past three years. Tracks included Fortnam’s settings of Thomas Hardy
’s “Shelley’s Skylark”, Yeats’ “He Gives His Beloved Certain Rhymes” and “He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven”, plus new instrumental "Kingstanding" and the part-instrumental/part-choral "Chimes". Other members also contributed material. William D Drake provided “Bill’s March” and “Mimnermus in Church
” – the latter a Drake setting of a poem by William Johnson Cory
with orchestrations by Craig Fortnam - and Sharron and Craig Fortnam co-wrote the folk song "Joy To My Heart".
The album received plenty of critical praise. Word Magazine called it "a beautiful debut.... unreservedly recommended," while Leeds Guide praised "a style of songwriting and a lyricism (nostalgic, pastoral, quaint) which is peculiarly English and suddenly, in their hands, timeless" and their reviewer dubbed the recording "one of the best albums, whatever the genre, that I have heard this year." Playlouder.com claimed that "North Sea Radio Orchestra splash colour into every corner of the speakers with a regal splendour and effervescent celebration of God, Nature or whatever it is you may wish to call it."
In the underground press, Art Rocker praised the NSRO for "doing something really quite special.....in their ability to ebb and sway and permeate through styles without erring away from the constant series of lush orchestrations", and hailed the record as "the most beautiful album of the year… could surely sway even the most ardent distortion-pedal freak to step back and open their minds and hearts to this." Foggy Notions called it "an everchanging trip, blooming with melody and twinkling beauty from start to finish," while Subba Cultcha commented that the ensemble’s music was "stepping easily between genres, sometimes classical, sometimes indie
; inspired and compelling and often magical, like the soundtrack to a film that hasn’t been made yet. It’s a thoughtful, melodic and calming record that is sure to attract fans way beyond its classical base." A review in Boomkat (while drawing attention to the NSRO’s "idiosyncratic bombast", "cartoonishly baroque
melodies" and "unbridled eccentricity") praised the orchestra's "considerable performance skills and elegant arrangements", and concluded that the album was "a fairly surreal experience all round."
). On March 3, they played their first concert outside London, at St Michael’s Church, Blewsbury, Berkshire
. This was followed by another appearance at St Giles in the Fields
in London on April 27. On July 2 the NSRO released the 7-inch vinyl-only EP End Of Chimes. This featured an edit of the album centrepiece “Chimes” plus three entirely new tracks (“Guitar Miniature No2”, “Hurdy Gurdy Miniature”, ”The Tide Rises the Tide Falls”) and was hailed as “a highly entertaining discovery” by Drowned In Sound and as “gentle, lush and frankly beguiling” by SoundsXP.
Later in the year, the NSRO performed two of their highest profile concerts to date – the first being a slot at the Green Man Festival
in August, and the second being a performance at the Roundhouse
, Chalk Farm
, London
, on November 19. In December 2007, the NSRO version of the hymn “O Come O Come Emanuel” appeared on the compilation album The Arctic Circle Presents: That Fuzzy Feeling ( a collection of Christmas
songs). The NSRO played live to promote the album at a concert at the Union Chapel
, London on December 5, 2007 (alongside Ellis Island Sound
, Mara Carlyle
, David Julyan
and The Dollboy Windpipe Arkestra).
2008 saw the North Sea Radio Orchestra performing more concerts outside London. During the first half of the year they made an appearance at the Jacqueline Du Pre
Music Rooms in Oxford
in January 2008, and performed at the Friends Meeting House, Brighton
on March 16, 2008 supported by Crayola Lectern.
The Brighton concert was notably in that (despite a very positive audience response) it generated the first negative press for the ensemble. The Stool Pigeon criticized the nostalgic quality of the NSRO’s music commenting that “it’s frequently a fine and lovely thing. But in some ways it can’t help feeling like a retreat… Certainly there are moments of beauty, but ultimately it’s like stepping back into an alternate, pre-war England where rock’n’roll - not to mention mass industrialisation
and immigration
- never happened. Which is fine for a night, but I wouldn’t want to stay.”
Notorious underground music commentator Everett True
was considerably more scornful in his Hugs And Kisses blog (reprinted in The Village Voice
), castigating the band for “po-faced snobbery” and “baroque warbling” and comparing them unfavourably to their more post-rock
inclined support act: “Crayola Lectern tick the same high musicality boxes as the band that followed, sure: but possess one crucial factor that the North Sea Radio Malarkey just don’t, just don’t get. They have heart.” Conversely, Chris Anderson of Crayola Lectern - in his own blogged review of the same concert - described the NSRO as "perfectly formed and rather marvellous... a magnificent creation."
The NSRO played in Malvern
in July 2008 (although with only a two-person lineup) and returned in full strength to the Green Man Festival
in August. On September 27, 2008 the NSRO performed an “open rehearsal” at the Purcell Room
, Southbank Centre, London in a double bill with Ted Barnes. This was part of the Open Weekend event (itself part of the 2008 Cultural Oympiad).
- was released on December 1, 2008 on Oof! Records (with the band performing a concert at St Martin in the Fields on November 18, 2008, in order to promote it). The album contained a version of previous EP lead track "The Flower" and another long-standing NSRO Tennyson setting, "Move Eastward Happy Earth", plus further settings of poems by Geoffrey Chaucer
("Now Welcom Somer") and William Blake
("The Angel", "A Poison Tree" and "Golden Cage").
Reviews of the album were generally positive. Isle Of Man Today described Birds as "effortlessly beautiful to listen to… NSRO manage to take you back centuries to an ancient form of music while retaining an eerie ability to remain thoroughly modern… Birds has a distinctly non-conformist sound but nevertheless achieves its aim with quiet, reserved gusto. NSRO aren't about to go on a media rampage shouting about how good they are; the whole project is far too middle-class for that. But by putting out Birds they are giving their audience a knowing wink. They realise they've created a fine piece of work and you can feel the confidence growing from track to track."
Cambridgeshire Times called the album “an intriguing proposition (which) feels at times like it's just been unearthed from an archaeological dig alongside some ancient flagstones. Organ, violins, clarinet, bassoon and oboe feature heavily alongside acoustic guitar, drum, percussion and choral parts, conjuring up images of royal court musicians… (The album) straddles the less crowded end of 60s folk and revives traditional chamber music, managing to sound timeless and refreshing rather than hopelessly outdated. A calming record of quality musicianship and carefully woven melodies.” The review also praised Sharron Fortnam as being “a beguiling embodiment of a cut-glass English Rose singer, delicate, classical, strong and capable.”
Reviewing Birds in issue 181, Mojo described the album as sounding like "Tortoise
reworked by Howard Goodall
" and suggested "there's charm and melody aplenty, but the churchier excursions suggest bourgeois smugness - Blake would not approve." In the underground music press, the Name Someone That’s Not A Parasite music blog hailed the NSRO as "(the) band British Sea Power
wish they could be! These guys are like a latter day Incredible String Band
mess of uniquely Anglican eccentricity." Describing the NSRO’s music as "kitchen-sink folk" Subba Cultcha commented that Birds was "something quite magical, but at times cringingly twee and fluffy, but in terms of artistic endeavour, it’s a tour-de-force in no uncertain terms. Part classical, part folk, part something entirely new, if you fancy dipping your toe in something a bit different, then this is a great rock pool to do it in."
Organ
lavishly praised the album, saying that “North Sea Radio Orchestra are blossoming in a rather fine way now with their inviting mix of delicate English prog and 20th century classical pastoral folk. Harmonically rich and fluid in a Henry Cow
, Art Bears
, Incredible String Band
kind of way... A fine mix of delicate English folk and something that has evolved out of fine traditions of chamber music… Birds is an album pulling gently in two distinct ways. One direction; nice, simple, sitting in a sunny field, female-voiced acoustic folk, the other towards a rarer thing, this fusion of English medieval progressive classical, chamber orchestral music, via Vaughan Williams, Cardiacs
, Vernon Elliott, Henry Cow
. In the end, it all works as a melodic spirited integral classical whole. Always more than just decorating modern music with classical instrumentation, at its core a real orchestra, this is something that’s both timeless and enchantingly beautiful – a very fine, very enjoyable rather magical album.”
Despite this, North Sea Radio Orchestra performed several concerts in 2009. On May 29th, they performed a free concert in Brixton Library, London, as part of Lambeth Readers and Writers Festival. On July 11, they performed at the 'Les Tombees de la Nuit' Festival in the Opera House in Rennes, Brittany. On October 22, they played at the Union Chapel, London, as part of the Marginalise Concert Series organised by the Arctic Circle label, performing the music of one of their leading influences, Vernon Elliot
(arranged by Craig Fortnam and fellow composer Laura Rossi). The playlist featured music from the animated television series The Clangers, Ivor the Engine and Pogles Wood.
In December 2010, an NSRO cover version of the Cardiacs
song "March" appeared on Leader Of The Starry Skies: A Tribute To Tim Smith, Songbook 1
, a fundraising compilation album to benefit the hospitalised Cardiacs
leader Tim Smith.
, was released on July 4 2011. Craig Fortnam composed the music for the album during the winter of 2010/2011, and the album was recorded at various locations in southern England on his laptop computer.
Prior to release, the band announced a number of changes in approach. Firstly, the album would have a "darker, less pastoral sound" with new influences including Krautrock
and experimental indie band Deerhoof
(and with more emphasis on synthesizer
and percussion than previously). Secondly, that there would be a move away from setting poetry in favour of setting self-written lyrics. The band also announced that 'I a Moon' would be released on their own new label, called The Household Mark, on July 4 2011.
The band also announced a series of live dates for summer 2011, including a repeat performance of the Vernon Elliot music at Kings Place, London, on June 10, further visits to the Quaker Meeting House in Brighton (July 10) and St Martin-in-the-Fields (July 15) and appearances accompanying indie-folk band Stornoway
at the Eastleigh Festival (July 8) and at London's Somerset House
(July 9).
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
contemporary music ensemble and cross-disciplinary chamber orchestra
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
(plus chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
).
The NSRO was set up mainly as a vehicle for the compositions of its musical director, Craig Fortnam
Craig Fortnam
Craig Fortnam is an English composer, conductor and musician. Fortnam is a skilled guitarist and bass guitarist, specialising in nylon-string acoustic guitar and also sings...
, but has also performed works by William D. Drake
William D. Drake
William D. Drake is an English musician, keyboardist, pianist, composer and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a former member of the cult English rock band Cardiacs, whom he played with for nine years between 1983 and 1992...
and James Larcombe
Stars In Battledress (band)
Stars In Battledress are an English musical duo featuring brothers Richard and James Larcombe. They are notable for their complex but tuneful compositions, their unorthodox fusion of folk music sources and British/American art rock influences, and for their intricate and allusive lyrics.A related...
. The ensemble is notable for its post-modern fusion of Romantic music
Romantic music
Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....
and later twentieth century forms, and for its bridging of the worlds of contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
, British folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, London art-rock and poetry (setting music to poems by W.B. Yeats, Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
, Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Daniel Dundas Maitland).
Sound and presentation
The North Sea Radio Orchestra is an ensemble of varying size, drawing on a pool of up to twenty members. It performs compositions which range from single-instrument solos and voice-and-guitar duos up to full chamber-orchestra-and-choir pieces (and all points in between, including assorted trios, quartets, quintets etc). The instrumentation within the ensemble features woodwind, strings, orchestral and electronic percussion, nylon-string guitar, chamber organ, pianoPiano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and the human voice. Between six and ten members sing as "the North Sea Chorus".
Compositionally, the NSRO favours original material with elements of the following – tonal/melodic classical composition, English choral and festival music, modern and ancient folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, and minimalism
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
. Some improvisation is also encouraged. The NSRO themselves cite influences including Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
, television composer Vernon Elliott, The Incredible String Band, Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
, and more metaphysical influences such as “London clay
London Clay
The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for the fossils it contains. The fossils from the Lower Eocene indicate a moderately warm climate, the flora being tropical or subtropical...
, water from the Thames and shingle from Bankside
Bankside
Bankside is a district of London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. Bankside is located on the southern bank of the River Thames, east of Charing Cross, running from a little west of Blackfriars Bridge to just a short distance before London Bridge at St Mary Overie Dock to...
”. Various critics have also made comparisons to the music of rock/classical/crossover musicians such as Simon Jeffes
Simon Jeffes
Simon Jeffes was an English classically trained guitarist, composer and arranger. He formed, and was the core performer of, the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. He composed the ballet Still Life at the Penguin Cafe...
’ Penguin Café Orchestra
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
The Penguin Cafe Orchestra was a collective of performing musicians created by classically trained British guitarist, composer and arranger Simon Jeffes...
, Sean O’Hagan’s High Llamas, Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, Clogs
Clogs (band)
Clogs are a mostly instrumental project led by Bryce Dessner and Australia's Padma Newsome. Their existence predates Dessner's other band The National...
, Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens is an American singer-songwriter and musician born in Detroit, Michigan. Stevens first began releasing his music on Asthmatic Kitty, a label co-founded with his stepfather, beginning with the 1999 release, A Sun Came...
, Max Richter
Max Richter
Max Richter is a German-born British composer.-Biography:Richter studied composition and piano at University of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Music and with Luciano Berio in Florence. After finishing his studies, Richter co-founded the contemporary classical ensemble Piano Circus...
, Nick Drake
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...
, Virginia Astley
Virginia Astley
Virginia Astley is an English singer-songwriter most active during the 1980s and 1990s. From the start of her songwriting career in 1980, Astley took her inspiration from many sources. Her classical training influenced her as did a desire to be experimental with her music...
, Kate St John
Kate St John
Katharine Elinor Margaret St John is an English musician, vocalist, composer, record producer, and arranger. She plays the oboe, saxophone, accordion, piano and cor anglais.-1980s:...
and Peter Warlock
Peter Warlock
Peter Warlock was a pseudonym of Philip Arnold Heseltine , an Anglo-Welsh composer and music critic. He used the pseudonym when composing, and is now better known by this name....
. Since 2010, the band has displayed a stronger influence of Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
.
Another frequently-cited compositional influence on the NSRO is Tim Smith, leader of the British psychedelic rock group Cardiacs
Cardiacs
Cardiacs are an English alternative rock/psychedelic pop band formed in 1977 and led by Tim Smith. Noted for their complex, varied and intense compositional style and for their eccentric, theatrical stage shows, they have been hailed as an influence by bands as diverse as Blur, Faith No More and...
(which incorporates influences including Early
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
and baroque music
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
). The NSRO is generally regarded as being part of the collection of varied musical groups connected with Cardiacs: it includes in its lineup one former and one current member of Cardiacs, plus at least five other musicians associated with the band.
For much of its existence, the NSRO was nostalgic
Nostalgia
The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , meaning "returning home", a Homeric word, and , meaning "pain, ache"...
in presentation and themes. Between 2002 and 2010, the poetry chosen for musical settings tended to be classic 18th /19th/ early 20th century pre-modernist
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
material, chosen for "its natural song-like meter and rhyme". Craig Fortnam has also set modern texts written in the same nostalgic vein. The ensemble's subtler post-modern elements are generally restricted to the musical content. Since 2010, the band's work has focussed on setting Craig Fortnam's original lyrics.
Prehistory
While growing up in Kingston-upon-Thames and playing in psychedelic rock bands as a teenager, Craig Fortnam gravitated towards the cluster of bands surrounding the long-standing British psychedelic band CardiacsCardiacs
Cardiacs are an English alternative rock/psychedelic pop band formed in 1977 and led by Tim Smith. Noted for their complex, varied and intense compositional style and for their eccentric, theatrical stage shows, they have been hailed as an influence by bands as diverse as Blur, Faith No More and...
. He went on to study composition and guitar at Dartington College of Arts
Dartington College of Arts
Dartington College of Arts was a specialist arts institution near Totnes, Devon, South West England, it specialized in post-dramatic theatre, music, choreography, Performance Writing and visual performance, focusing on a performative and multi-disciplinary approach to the arts. In addition to this,...
. Graduating in 1990, he returned to London. During this period period he composed material written for a variety of classical genres and ensembles, but also became involved with the London underground rock scene as a guitarist. One of the bands which he played in was the psychedelic
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
acoustic band Lake of Puppies, led by Fortnam's friend (and former Cardiacs keyboard player) William D. Drake
William D. Drake
William D. Drake is an English musician, keyboardist, pianist, composer and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a former member of the cult English rock band Cardiacs, whom he played with for nine years between 1983 and 1992...
. The band gigged infrequently and recorded a few tracks, but never released an album. However, the band also featured singer and bass guitarist Sharron Saddington, whom Fortnam fell in love with. The two would also become longtime musical partners, and following their marriage, she would become known as Sharron Fortnam).
In 1995, Craig and Sharron teamed up with two other former Cardiacs (saxophonist/keyboard player Sarah Smith and drummer Dominic Luckman) to form Shrubby Veronica, soon to be renamed The Shrubbies. This band gigged enthusiastically in London for several years and released one EP (1997’s The Shrubbies) followed by the Memphis In Texas album in 1999.
However, Fortnam began to become disillusioned with the poor etiquette and atmosphere he encountered at rock concerts, later recalling "I began to realise that most people were there for a social thing, and people were talking all the way through. That just started annoying me and I thought, 'I'll write music that doesn’t have drums, that isn’t loud, and we'll play places where people sit down and then they won't talk." The Shrubbies split up in 2000, and the now-married Fortnams opted to pursue a more ambitious and flexible project which could showcase both Craig’s contemporary classical
Contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
compositions and Sharron’s unconventional singing voice (which blended elements of classical mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
with folk and pop stylings). Recruiting several other musicians, they set up the North Sea Radio Orchestra.
2002 to 2003 - the City Church concerts
The North Sea Radio Orchestra first appeared in public via a series of successful concerts in various antique churches within the square mile of the City of LondonCity of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
- St Martin, Ludgate
St Martin, Ludgate
St Martin, Ludgate is an Anglican church on Ludgate Hill in the ward of Farringdon, in the City of London. St Martin Ludgate, also called St Martin within Ludgate, was rebuilt in 1677-84 by Sir Christopher Wren.-History:...
; St Clement Eastcheap
St Clement Eastcheap
St. Clement Eastcheap is a Church of England parish church in Candlewick Ward of the City of London. It is located on Clement's Lane, off King William Street, and close to London Bridge and the River Thames....
and St Olave Hart Street
St Olave Hart Street
St Olave Hart Street is a Church of England church in the City of London, located on the corner of Hart Street and Seething Lane near Fenchurch Street railway station....
. Taking place during 2002 and 2003, these concerts were publicised mainly by word-of-mouth. They were very much self-motivated occasions with a slightly antique/Edwardian feel (complete with home-made art-deco-styled concert programmes designed by Sharron Fortnam).
Members of NSRO for the first concert included the Fortnams, percussionist Hugh Wilkinson, cellist/composer Harry Escott
Harry Escott
Harry Escott is a composer living in London. He has composed numerous film scores, mostly in collaboration with Molly Nyman.He studied music at The Royal College of Music and Oxford University....
and organist/composer James Larcombe (of Stars In Battledress
Stars In Battledress (band)
Stars In Battledress are an English musical duo featuring brothers Richard and James Larcombe. They are notable for their complex but tuneful compositions, their unorthodox fusion of folk music sources and British/American art rock influences, and for their intricate and allusive lyrics.A related...
), all of whom would continue in the ensemble long-term. Other performers included Nick Hayes (clarinet). Inspired by the success of the first few concerts, the NSRO began to expand (ultimately becoming a twenty-person ensemble). While the instrumentalists were mostly drawn from the classical world, the vocal chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
contained former Shrubbies concert-mates and collaborators from the Fortnams’ time on the London art-rock circuit. These included current and former members of Stars In Battledress
Stars In Battledress (band)
Stars In Battledress are an English musical duo featuring brothers Richard and James Larcombe. They are notable for their complex but tuneful compositions, their unorthodox fusion of folk music sources and British/American art rock influences, and for their intricate and allusive lyrics.A related...
, The Monsoon Bassoon
The Monsoon Bassoon
The Monsoon Bassoon were a British independent rock band active between 1995 and 2001, notable for their exceptionally complex and energetic music. During their lifespan, the band won the NME's Single Of The Week award three times...
and Sidi Bou Said
Sidi Bou Said
Sidi Bou Said is a town in northern Tunisia located about 20 km from the capital, Tunis.The town got its name for a Muslim religious figure who lived there, Abou Said ibn Khalef ibn Yahia Ettamini el Beji . The town itself is a tourist attraction as it is known for the extensive use of blue and...
. Stars In Battledress
Stars In Battledress (band)
Stars In Battledress are an English musical duo featuring brothers Richard and James Larcombe. They are notable for their complex but tuneful compositions, their unorthodox fusion of folk music sources and British/American art rock influences, and for their intricate and allusive lyrics.A related...
frontman Richard Larcombe (brother of James) also shared some lead vocal parts with Sharron Fortnam. Later on, the Fortnam's former Lake Of Puppies bandmate William D. Drake
William D. Drake
William D. Drake is an English musician, keyboardist, pianist, composer and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a former member of the cult English rock band Cardiacs, whom he played with for nine years between 1983 and 1992...
joined the ensemble as chorus singer and occasional solo pianist.
A few demo CDs were also made available at this time. These included early recordings of Craig Fortnam’s settings of Tennyson’s "The Flower" and "Every Day Hath Its Night" and the Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
-esque "Nest Of Tables". Early (and very positive) reviews of both the EP and the concerts appeared in underground publications including Organ
Organ (magazine)
Organ is an independent music magazine based in London, covering a variety of rock, alternative, punk, progressive, metal and experimental music. The magazine was founded in 1986 as a handmade fanzine and has evolved many times over the last 20 years...
and Evophonic.
2004 to 2006 - the NSRO gains wider attention
In October 2004 the NSRO played a concert at Bush Hall in West London which was reviewed by John L. WaltersJohn L. Walters
John L. Walters is a British editor, critic and composer. He was a founding member of the band Landscape, best known for the 1981 hit ‘Einstein A Go-Go’ which reached no. 5 in the UK charts...
in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. Walters drew attention to the initial difficulties in classifying the ensemble’s music but drew positive conclusions: “Is it ironic? Romantic retro? Or post-minimalist post-modernity? Behold the eleven-piece chamber orchestra beneath the chandeliers of Bush Hall, and you realise that Craig Fortnam, their leader and chief composer, is utterly serious in his quest for accessible, intelligent, non-trivial music…. What makes the NSRO special is Fortnam's gift for orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
, the deft and original way he puts deceptively simple materials in the hands of sophisticated performers. Melody pours from his pen on every page.”
In 2005, the NSRO released their first formal EP The Flower (on seven-inch vinyl) on the tiny London independent label Oof! Records. It contained a re-recorded version of “The Flower”, plus two more Tennyson settings (“The Lintwhite” and “Move Eastward Happy Earth”) and three instrumental pieces (“Music For Two Clarinets And Piano”, “Organ Miniature No. 1” and “Nest Of Tables”). On October 22, 2005, the NSRO played their first concert at St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
, London.
On July 31, 2006 the North Sea Radio Orchestra performed at the Spitz, East London at a Music Orbit evening (a spin-off of the iF Festival) alongside NEM and Makeshift. The evening was presented as "a combination of gamelan
Gamelan
A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
, improvisation, electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
and lyrical chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
." In September 2006, an NSRO track appeared on the nu-folk compilation album Folk Off: New Folk and Psychedelia from the British Isles and North America - this was the Craig Fortnam solo performance of “Guitar Miniature”.
The NSRO performed at the Spitz again on October 28, 2006 (supported by William D. Drake
William D. Drake
William D. Drake is an English musician, keyboardist, pianist, composer and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a former member of the cult English rock band Cardiacs, whom he played with for nine years between 1983 and 1992...
). This concert received a five-star review in the Daily Telegraph which nominated the "superbly disciplined chamber ensemble" as "the kind of deserving enterprise the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
should really be throwing money at," and singled out praise for Sharon Fortnam’s voice as possessing "dazzling, pre-industrial clarity." Reviewing the same concert, underground e-zine Bubblejam commented on the intimate quality of the music and the quality of the concert itself - "not unlike being at a church service or a poetry recital -- the crowd were completely rapt and utterly silent." The reviewer also concluded "for an all too brief time, they evoke an atmosphere of timeless beauty in the otherwise harsh environs of the East End. If I met an extra-terrestrial and wanted to communicate the concept of Englishness quickly and easily, I could do a lot worse than to play them the music of the North Sea Radio Orchestra."
2006 - Release of debut album
In October 2006 the NSRO released their debut album – North Sea Radio OrchestraNorth Sea Radio Orchestra (album)
North Sea Radio Orchestra is the debut album by the English cross-disciplinary musical ensemble of the same name. It was released in 2006 on Oof! Records.-Background:...
– on Oof! Records. The album was recorded, engineered and mastered by former Cardiacs
Cardiacs
Cardiacs are an English alternative rock/psychedelic pop band formed in 1977 and led by Tim Smith. Noted for their complex, varied and intense compositional style and for their eccentric, theatrical stage shows, they have been hailed as an influence by bands as diverse as Blur, Faith No More and...
member Mark Cawthra
Mark Cawthra
Mark Cawthra is a musician and music producer working in the UK. He was born in Bishop Stortford, Hertfordshire.-Biography:...
and contained much of the ensemble’s live set from the past three years. Tracks included Fortnam’s settings of Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
’s “Shelley’s Skylark”, Yeats’ “He Gives His Beloved Certain Rhymes” and “He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven”, plus new instrumental "Kingstanding" and the part-instrumental/part-choral "Chimes". Other members also contributed material. William D Drake provided “Bill’s March” and “Mimnermus in Church
Mimnermus in Church
Mimnermus in Church is a poem written by William Johnson Cory-Background:William Johnson was an Eton master and author of the lyrics to the Eton Boating Song. He left Eton under suspicion of improper relations with students and added Cory to his name...
” – the latter a Drake setting of a poem by William Johnson Cory
William Johnson Cory
William Johnson Cory , born William Johnson, was an educator and poet, born at Torrington, and educated at Eton, where he was afterwards a renowned master, nicknamed Tute by his pupils...
with orchestrations by Craig Fortnam - and Sharron and Craig Fortnam co-wrote the folk song "Joy To My Heart".
The album received plenty of critical praise. Word Magazine called it "a beautiful debut.... unreservedly recommended," while Leeds Guide praised "a style of songwriting and a lyricism (nostalgic, pastoral, quaint) which is peculiarly English and suddenly, in their hands, timeless" and their reviewer dubbed the recording "one of the best albums, whatever the genre, that I have heard this year." Playlouder.com claimed that "North Sea Radio Orchestra splash colour into every corner of the speakers with a regal splendour and effervescent celebration of God, Nature or whatever it is you may wish to call it."
In the underground press, Art Rocker praised the NSRO for "doing something really quite special.....in their ability to ebb and sway and permeate through styles without erring away from the constant series of lush orchestrations", and hailed the record as "the most beautiful album of the year… could surely sway even the most ardent distortion-pedal freak to step back and open their minds and hearts to this." Foggy Notions called it "an everchanging trip, blooming with melody and twinkling beauty from start to finish," while Subba Cultcha commented that the ensemble’s music was "stepping easily between genres, sometimes classical, sometimes indie
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
; inspired and compelling and often magical, like the soundtrack to a film that hasn’t been made yet. It’s a thoughtful, melodic and calming record that is sure to attract fans way beyond its classical base." A review in Boomkat (while drawing attention to the NSRO’s "idiosyncratic bombast", "cartoonishly baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
melodies" and "unbridled eccentricity") praised the orchestra's "considerable performance skills and elegant arrangements", and concluded that the album was "a fairly surreal experience all round."
2007-2008 - further afield
On January 26, 2007 the North Sea Radio Orchestra returned to Bush Hall for another concert (supported again by William D. DrakeWilliam D. Drake
William D. Drake is an English musician, keyboardist, pianist, composer and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a former member of the cult English rock band Cardiacs, whom he played with for nine years between 1983 and 1992...
). On March 3, they played their first concert outside London, at St Michael’s Church, Blewsbury, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
. This was followed by another appearance at St Giles in the Fields
St Giles in the Fields
St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, is a church in the London Borough of Camden, in the West End. It is close to the Centre Point office tower and the Tottenham Court Road tube station. The church is part of the Diocese of London within the Church of England...
in London on April 27. On July 2 the NSRO released the 7-inch vinyl-only EP End Of Chimes. This featured an edit of the album centrepiece “Chimes” plus three entirely new tracks (“Guitar Miniature No2”, “Hurdy Gurdy Miniature”, ”The Tide Rises the Tide Falls”) and was hailed as “a highly entertaining discovery” by Drowned In Sound and as “gentle, lush and frankly beguiling” by SoundsXP.
Later in the year, the NSRO performed two of their highest profile concerts to date – the first being a slot at the Green Man Festival
Green Man Festival
The Green Man Festival is an independent music festival held annually in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. It has evolved from a one-day, 300 capacity event in 2003, to a three-day festival with live music including psych, folk, indie, dance and Americana across five stages, as well as DJs playing...
in August, and the second being a performance at the Roundhouse
The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse is a Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England, which has been converted into a performing arts and concert venue. It was originally built in 1847 as a roundhouse , a circular building containing a railway turntable, but was only used for railway...
, Chalk Farm
Chalk Farm
Chalk Farm is an area of north London, England. It lies directly to the north of Camden Town and its underground station is the closest tube station to the nearby, upmarket neighbourhood of Primrose Hill....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, on November 19. In December 2007, the NSRO version of the hymn “O Come O Come Emanuel” appeared on the compilation album The Arctic Circle Presents: That Fuzzy Feeling ( a collection of Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
songs). The NSRO played live to promote the album at a concert at the Union Chapel
Union Chapel, Islington
The Union Chapel is a Grade II* listed church and music venue in Islington, North London, England, located on Compton Terrace.An example of Victorian gothic architecture, it was designed by James Cubitt, and constructed between 1874 and 1877, with further additions 1877-90, providing an ambitious...
, London on December 5, 2007 (alongside Ellis Island Sound
Ellis Island Sound
Ellis Island Sound are an instrumental band from London, England. They started as a duo consisting of multi-instrumentalists Peter Astor and David Sheppard , and have since expanded to 12 members, including Darren Hayman, formerly of Hefner.The band formed in 1997, and have recorded for a number...
, Mara Carlyle
Mara Carlyle
Mara Carlyle is an English singer-songwriter and arranger who also plays the musical saw and the ukulele. She was raised in Shropshire, England and now lives in London.-Career:...
, David Julyan
David Julyan
David Julyan is an English musician and film score composer. He composed the scores to several Christopher Nolan films including Memento, Insomnia and The Prestige, a collaboration that began with the short film Larceny. Recently he scored the horror movie The Descent and a UK feature, Outlaw...
and The Dollboy Windpipe Arkestra).
2008 saw the North Sea Radio Orchestra performing more concerts outside London. During the first half of the year they made an appearance at the Jacqueline Du Pre
Jacqueline du Pré
Jacqueline Mary du Pré OBE was a British cellist. She is particularly associated with Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor; her interpretation has been described as "definitive" and "legendary." Her career was cut short by multiple sclerosis, which forced her to stop performing at 28 and led to her...
Music Rooms in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
in January 2008, and performed at the Friends Meeting House, Brighton
Brighton Friends Meeting House
The Brighton Friends Meeting House is a Friends meeting house in the centre of Brighton, part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England. The building, which dates from 1805, replaced an earlier meeting house of 1690 what was then a small fishing village on the Sussex coast...
on March 16, 2008 supported by Crayola Lectern.
The Brighton concert was notably in that (despite a very positive audience response) it generated the first negative press for the ensemble. The Stool Pigeon criticized the nostalgic quality of the NSRO’s music commenting that “it’s frequently a fine and lovely thing. But in some ways it can’t help feeling like a retreat… Certainly there are moments of beauty, but ultimately it’s like stepping back into an alternate, pre-war England where rock’n’roll - not to mention mass industrialisation
Industrialisation
Industrialization is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one...
and immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
- never happened. Which is fine for a night, but I wouldn’t want to stay.”
Notorious underground music commentator Everett True
Everett True
For the cartoon character, see The Outbursts of Everett True.Everett True is a British music journalist, who grew up in Chelmsford, Essex...
was considerably more scornful in his Hugs And Kisses blog (reprinted in The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
), castigating the band for “po-faced snobbery” and “baroque warbling” and comparing them unfavourably to their more post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
inclined support act: “Crayola Lectern tick the same high musicality boxes as the band that followed, sure: but possess one crucial factor that the North Sea Radio Malarkey just don’t, just don’t get. They have heart.” Conversely, Chris Anderson of Crayola Lectern - in his own blogged review of the same concert - described the NSRO as "perfectly formed and rather marvellous... a magnificent creation."
The NSRO played in Malvern
Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
in July 2008 (although with only a two-person lineup) and returned in full strength to the Green Man Festival
Green Man Festival
The Green Man Festival is an independent music festival held annually in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. It has evolved from a one-day, 300 capacity event in 2003, to a three-day festival with live music including psych, folk, indie, dance and Americana across five stages, as well as DJs playing...
in August. On September 27, 2008 the NSRO performed an “open rehearsal” at the Purcell Room
Purcell Room
The Purcell Room is a concert and performance venue which forms part of the Southbank Centre, one of central London's leading cultural complexes. It is named after the 17th century English composer Henry Purcell and has 370 seats....
, Southbank Centre, London in a double bill with Ted Barnes. This was part of the Open Weekend event (itself part of the 2008 Cultural Oympiad).
2008: Release of second album Birds
A second North Sea Radio Orchestra album – BirdsBirds (North Sea Radio Orchestra album)
Birds is the second album by the English cross-disciplinary musical ensemble North Sea Radio Orchestra. It was released on December 1, 2008 on Oof! Records.-Background:...
- was released on December 1, 2008 on Oof! Records (with the band performing a concert at St Martin in the Fields on November 18, 2008, in order to promote it). The album contained a version of previous EP lead track "The Flower" and another long-standing NSRO Tennyson setting, "Move Eastward Happy Earth", plus further settings of poems by Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
("Now Welcom Somer") and William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
("The Angel", "A Poison Tree" and "Golden Cage").
Reviews of the album were generally positive. Isle Of Man Today described Birds as "effortlessly beautiful to listen to… NSRO manage to take you back centuries to an ancient form of music while retaining an eerie ability to remain thoroughly modern… Birds has a distinctly non-conformist sound but nevertheless achieves its aim with quiet, reserved gusto. NSRO aren't about to go on a media rampage shouting about how good they are; the whole project is far too middle-class for that. But by putting out Birds they are giving their audience a knowing wink. They realise they've created a fine piece of work and you can feel the confidence growing from track to track."
Cambridgeshire Times called the album “an intriguing proposition (which) feels at times like it's just been unearthed from an archaeological dig alongside some ancient flagstones. Organ, violins, clarinet, bassoon and oboe feature heavily alongside acoustic guitar, drum, percussion and choral parts, conjuring up images of royal court musicians… (The album) straddles the less crowded end of 60s folk and revives traditional chamber music, managing to sound timeless and refreshing rather than hopelessly outdated. A calming record of quality musicianship and carefully woven melodies.” The review also praised Sharron Fortnam as being “a beguiling embodiment of a cut-glass English Rose singer, delicate, classical, strong and capable.”
Reviewing Birds in issue 181, Mojo described the album as sounding like "Tortoise
Tortoise (band)
Tortoise is an American post-rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1990.-Music:Tortoise's almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago's fertile music scene, playing in...
reworked by Howard Goodall
Howard Goodall
210px|thumb|Howard Goodall at St. John the Baptist Church in Devon, United Kingdom, May 2009Howard Lindsay Goodall CBE is a British composer of musicals, choral music and music for television...
" and suggested "there's charm and melody aplenty, but the churchier excursions suggest bourgeois smugness - Blake would not approve." In the underground music press, the Name Someone That’s Not A Parasite music blog hailed the NSRO as "(the) band British Sea Power
British Sea Power
British Sea Power are an indie rock band based in Brighton, England, although three of the band members originally come from Kendal in Cumbria. Critics have likened their sound to a variety of groups, from The Cure and Joy Division to the Pixies and Arcade Fire. The band are famed for their live...
wish they could be! These guys are like a latter day Incredible String Band
Incredible String Band
The Incredible String Band were a psychedelic folk band formed in Scotland in 1966. The band built a considerable following, especially within British counterculture, before splitting up in 1974...
mess of uniquely Anglican eccentricity." Describing the NSRO’s music as "kitchen-sink folk" Subba Cultcha commented that Birds was "something quite magical, but at times cringingly twee and fluffy, but in terms of artistic endeavour, it’s a tour-de-force in no uncertain terms. Part classical, part folk, part something entirely new, if you fancy dipping your toe in something a bit different, then this is a great rock pool to do it in."
Organ
Organ (magazine)
Organ is an independent music magazine based in London, covering a variety of rock, alternative, punk, progressive, metal and experimental music. The magazine was founded in 1986 as a handmade fanzine and has evolved many times over the last 20 years...
lavishly praised the album, saying that “North Sea Radio Orchestra are blossoming in a rather fine way now with their inviting mix of delicate English prog and 20th century classical pastoral folk. Harmonically rich and fluid in a Henry Cow
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English avant-rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members...
, Art Bears
Art Bears
Art Bears were an English avant-rock group formed during the disassembly of Henry Cow in 1978 by three of its members, Chris Cutler , Fred Frith and Dagmar Krause...
, Incredible String Band
Incredible String Band
The Incredible String Band were a psychedelic folk band formed in Scotland in 1966. The band built a considerable following, especially within British counterculture, before splitting up in 1974...
kind of way... A fine mix of delicate English folk and something that has evolved out of fine traditions of chamber music… Birds is an album pulling gently in two distinct ways. One direction; nice, simple, sitting in a sunny field, female-voiced acoustic folk, the other towards a rarer thing, this fusion of English medieval progressive classical, chamber orchestral music, via Vaughan Williams, Cardiacs
Cardiacs
Cardiacs are an English alternative rock/psychedelic pop band formed in 1977 and led by Tim Smith. Noted for their complex, varied and intense compositional style and for their eccentric, theatrical stage shows, they have been hailed as an influence by bands as diverse as Blur, Faith No More and...
, Vernon Elliott, Henry Cow
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English avant-rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members...
. In the end, it all works as a melodic spirited integral classical whole. Always more than just decorating modern music with classical instrumentation, at its core a real orchestra, this is something that’s both timeless and enchantingly beautiful – a very fine, very enjoyable rather magical album.”
2009-2010 - selective gigging, Arch Garrison, Vernon Elliott and Leader of the Starry Skies
Following the release of Birds, NSRO appearances and activity became rarer, partly due to Craig Fortnam's concentration on a smaller-scale project called Arch Garrison, the live lineup of which also featured Sharron Fortnam and James Larcombe. (The project's debut album was released on Double Six/Domino Records in February 2010.)Despite this, North Sea Radio Orchestra performed several concerts in 2009. On May 29th, they performed a free concert in Brixton Library, London, as part of Lambeth Readers and Writers Festival. On July 11, they performed at the 'Les Tombees de la Nuit' Festival in the Opera House in Rennes, Brittany. On October 22, they played at the Union Chapel, London, as part of the Marginalise Concert Series organised by the Arctic Circle label, performing the music of one of their leading influences, Vernon Elliot
Vernon Elliot
Vernon Pelling Elliott was a British bassoonist, conductor and composer.Born into a musical family in 1912, Elliott took up the bassoon at a very early age...
(arranged by Craig Fortnam and fellow composer Laura Rossi). The playlist featured music from the animated television series The Clangers, Ivor the Engine and Pogles Wood.
In December 2010, an NSRO cover version of the Cardiacs
Cardiacs
Cardiacs are an English alternative rock/psychedelic pop band formed in 1977 and led by Tim Smith. Noted for their complex, varied and intense compositional style and for their eccentric, theatrical stage shows, they have been hailed as an influence by bands as diverse as Blur, Faith No More and...
song "March" appeared on Leader Of The Starry Skies: A Tribute To Tim Smith, Songbook 1
Leader of the Starry Skies: A Tribute to Tim Smith, Songbook 1
Leader of the Starry Skies: A Tribute To Tim Smith, Songbook 1 is a compilation album featuring cover versions of songs by Tim Smith . It was released on CD on December 13, 2010 on the Believers Roast label...
, a fundraising compilation album to benefit the hospitalised Cardiacs
Cardiacs
Cardiacs are an English alternative rock/psychedelic pop band formed in 1977 and led by Tim Smith. Noted for their complex, varied and intense compositional style and for their eccentric, theatrical stage shows, they have been hailed as an influence by bands as diverse as Blur, Faith No More and...
leader Tim Smith.
2011-present: third album I a Moon
The third North Sea Radio Orchestra album, I a MoonI a Moon (album)
I a Moon is the third album by the English cross-disciplinary music ensemble North Sea Radio Orchestra. It was released on July 4, 2011 on the Household Mark label.-Background:...
, was released on July 4 2011. Craig Fortnam composed the music for the album during the winter of 2010/2011, and the album was recorded at various locations in southern England on his laptop computer.
Prior to release, the band announced a number of changes in approach. Firstly, the album would have a "darker, less pastoral sound" with new influences including Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
and experimental indie band Deerhoof
Deerhoof
Deerhoof is a musical group consisting of Satomi Matsuzaki, John Dieterich, Ed Rodriguez and Greg Saunier.-Origins:In 1992, Greg Saunier, having recently graduated with a degree in music composition from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, joined a short-lived San Francisco quartet called Nitre Pit, on...
(and with more emphasis on synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
and percussion than previously). Secondly, that there would be a move away from setting poetry in favour of setting self-written lyrics. The band also announced that 'I a Moon' would be released on their own new label, called The Household Mark, on July 4 2011.
The band also announced a series of live dates for summer 2011, including a repeat performance of the Vernon Elliot music at Kings Place, London, on June 10, further visits to the Quaker Meeting House in Brighton (July 10) and St Martin-in-the-Fields (July 15) and appearances accompanying indie-folk band Stornoway
Stornoway (band)
Stornoway is a British alternative indie folk band from the Cowley area of Oxford. It consists of singer and guitarist Brian Briggs; multi-instrumentalists Jon Ouin and Oli Steadman, and the latter's brother Rob on drums. The band is usually joined by trumpeter Adam Briggs and violinist Rahul Satija...
at the Eastleigh Festival (July 8) and at London's Somerset House
Somerset House
Somerset House is a large building situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, England, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The central block of the Neoclassical building, the outstanding project of the architect Sir William Chambers, dates from 1776–96. It...
(July 9).
Current ensemble members
- Craig FortnamCraig FortnamCraig Fortnam is an English composer, conductor and musician. Fortnam is a skilled guitarist and bass guitarist, specialising in nylon-string acoustic guitar and also sings...
- composer, arranger, conductor, nylon-string acoustic guitar, piano, chamber organ, laptop computer, voice - Sharron Fortnam - solo voice
- Dug Parker - solo voice, North Sea Chorus
- Luke Albery - solo voice, North Sea Chorus acoustic guitar
- James LarcombeStars In Battledress (band)Stars In Battledress are an English musical duo featuring brothers Richard and James Larcombe. They are notable for their complex but tuneful compositions, their unorthodox fusion of folk music sources and British/American art rock influences, and for their intricate and allusive lyrics.A related...
- composer, chamber organ, piano, monosynth, North Sea Chorus - Ben Davies - piano, chamber organ, North Sea Chorus
- Hugh Wilkinson - percussion
- Jez Wiles - percussion
- Harry EscottHarry EscottHarry Escott is a composer living in London. He has composed numerous film scores, mostly in collaboration with Molly Nyman.He studied music at The Royal College of Music and Oxford University....
- cello - Brian Wright - violin
- Sara Longe - violin
- Luke Crookes - bassoon
- Nicola Baigent - clarinet
- Geraldine Peach - oboe, North Sea Chorus
- William D. DrakeWilliam D. DrakeWilliam D. Drake is an English musician, keyboardist, pianist, composer and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a former member of the cult English rock band Cardiacs, whom he played with for nine years between 1983 and 1992...
- composer, piano, North Sea Chorus - Suzi Kirby - North Sea Chorus
- Louise Harrison - North Sea Chorus
- Gideon Miller - North Sea Chorus
- Kavus TorabiKavus TorabiKavus Torabi is a British musician and composer . A multi-instrumentalist, he is known for his work in the avant-garde rock field...
- North Sea Chorus - Melanie WoodsSidi Bou SaidSidi Bou Said is a town in northern Tunisia located about 20 km from the capital, Tunis.The town got its name for a Muslim religious figure who lived there, Abou Said ibn Khalef ibn Yahia Ettamini el Beji . The town itself is a tourist attraction as it is known for the extensive use of blue and...
- North Sea Chorus
Previous ensemble members
- Nick Hayes - clarinet
- Nick Homes - clarinet
- Richard LarcombeStars In Battledress (band)Stars In Battledress are an English musical duo featuring brothers Richard and James Larcombe. They are notable for their complex but tuneful compositions, their unorthodox fusion of folk music sources and British/American art rock influences, and for their intricate and allusive lyrics.A related...
- solo voice, acoustic guitar - Marit Lyngra - violin
- Dan Hewson - trombone
- Katja Mervola - viola
- Jen Underhill - violin
Musical connections
- Craig FortnamCraig FortnamCraig Fortnam is an English composer, conductor and musician. Fortnam is a skilled guitarist and bass guitarist, specialising in nylon-string acoustic guitar and also sings...
has recently founded a new "solo" project called Arch Garrison. The debut album was released on Double Six/Domino Records in February 2010. The live line-up features Sharron Fortnam and James Larcombe from NSRO. - William D. DrakeWilliam D. DrakeWilliam D. Drake is an English musician, keyboardist, pianist, composer and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a former member of the cult English rock band Cardiacs, whom he played with for nine years between 1983 and 1992...
is a former member of CardiacsCardiacsCardiacs are an English alternative rock/psychedelic pop band formed in 1977 and led by Tim Smith. Noted for their complex, varied and intense compositional style and for their eccentric, theatrical stage shows, they have been hailed as an influence by bands as diverse as Blur, Faith No More and...
, Nervous and Wood and maintains a solo career as both songwriter and underground classical pianist - Craig and Sharron Fortnam occasionally play acoustic alternative pop with William D. Drake under the name of The fFortingtons
- Harry Escott is a composer who has had pieces commissioned by Westminster Cathedral Choir, The Fitzwilliam String Quartet and The Chamber Ensemble of London, in addition to his work in film, TV and theatre. In collaboration with Molly Nyman, he has composed music for (among others) Hard Candy, Channel 4’s Poppy Shakespeare and Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart and Road To Guantanamo. His film music is performed by his own group The Samphire Band in which Craig Fortnam plays guitar.
- Richard and James Larcombe work together as Stars In BattledressStars In Battledress (band)Stars In Battledress are an English musical duo featuring brothers Richard and James Larcombe. They are notable for their complex but tuneful compositions, their unorthodox fusion of folk music sources and British/American art rock influences, and for their intricate and allusive lyrics.A related...
and are frequent collaborators with William D. DrakeWilliam D. DrakeWilliam D. Drake is an English musician, keyboardist, pianist, composer and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a former member of the cult English rock band Cardiacs, whom he played with for nine years between 1983 and 1992...
. Richard has also worked as Defeat The Young and is the former frontman of Magnilda. - Kavus TorabiKavus TorabiKavus Torabi is a British musician and composer . A multi-instrumentalist, he is known for his work in the avant-garde rock field...
is the leader of Knifeworld (which also features Craig Fortnam as bass player). He is a former member of The Monsoon BassoonThe Monsoon BassoonThe Monsoon Bassoon were a British independent rock band active between 1995 and 2001, notable for their exceptionally complex and energetic music. During their lifespan, the band won the NME's Single Of The Week award three times...
and the current guitarist for both CardiacsCardiacsCardiacs are an English alternative rock/psychedelic pop band formed in 1977 and led by Tim Smith. Noted for their complex, varied and intense compositional style and for their eccentric, theatrical stage shows, they have been hailed as an influence by bands as diverse as Blur, Faith No More and...
and GuapoGuapo (band)Guapo is a British experimental rock/art rock band formed in the mid 1990s by drummer/percussionist Dave Smith and guitarist/vocalist Matt Thompson...
; he has also worked with Spider Stacy (The PoguesThe PoguesThe Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
), Chrome HoofChrome HoofChrome Hoof are an experimental orchestra based in London, England. The group was formed in 2000 by Cathedral bassist Leo Smee and his brother Milo Smee. Initially performing as a duo, their music was mostly electronic. Since the start, however, the group have continuously recruited new members...
and Mediaeval Baebes. - Melanie Woods is a member of Sidi Bou SaidSidi Bou SaidSidi Bou Said is a town in northern Tunisia located about 20 km from the capital, Tunis.The town got its name for a Muslim religious figure who lived there, Abou Said ibn Khalef ibn Yahia Ettamini el Beji . The town itself is a tourist attraction as it is known for the extensive use of blue and...
and also sings in Knifeworld. - Luke Albery is also the frontman of the rock band Footsteps And Voices.
- Luke Crookes works with the Philharmonia Orchestra (London) and has recorded for Olympia Records: he is also a music educator and animator.
- Sara Longe is also a member of the Ebony Ensemble.
- Brian Wright is a member of Instrumental, a string sextet who perform extensively at contemporary music festivals in Europe, covering the music of electronic acts such as OrbitalOrbital (band)Orbital are a British electronic dance music duo from Sevenoaks, England consisting of brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll. Their career initially ran from 1989 until 2004, but in 2009 they announced that they would be reforming and headlining The Big Chill, in addition to a number of other live shows...
, Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, and MobyMobyRichard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...
. - Sara Longe, Suzy Kirby, Harry Escott, Ben Davies and Sharron Fortnam have all worked with WildheartsThe WildheartsThe Wildhearts are a British rock group originally formed in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The band's sound is a mixture of hard rock and melodic pop music, often described in the music press as combining influences as diverse as The Beatles and 1980s-era Metallica...
songwriter GingerGinger (singer)Ginger is a rock guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for his band The Wildhearts.-Early career:...
(on the YoniYoni (album)Yoni is the second solo album to be released by Ginger, main driving force of rock band The Wildhearts. It was released on January 22 2007 and features 12 tracks...
album).
Albums
- North Sea Radio OrchestraNorth Sea Radio Orchestra (album)North Sea Radio Orchestra is the debut album by the English cross-disciplinary musical ensemble of the same name. It was released in 2006 on Oof! Records.-Background:...
(2006, Oof! Records) - BirdsBirds (North Sea Radio Orchestra album)Birds is the second album by the English cross-disciplinary musical ensemble North Sea Radio Orchestra. It was released on December 1, 2008 on Oof! Records.-Background:...
(2008, Oof! Records) - I a MoonI a Moon (album)I a Moon is the third album by the English cross-disciplinary music ensemble North Sea Radio Orchestra. It was released on July 4, 2011 on the Household Mark label.-Background:...
(2011, The Household Mark)
Singles and EPs
- “North Sea Radio Orchestra” (2003, private release)
- “The Flower” (2005, Oof! Records)
- “The End Of Chimes” (2007, Oof! Records)
Compilation Appearances
- Folk Off: New Folk and Psychedelia from the British Isles and North America (2006, Sunday Best Recordings - NSRO contributes “Guitar Miniature”)
- The Arctic Circle Presents: That Fuzzy Feeling (2007, Arctic Circle Records - NSRO contributes “O Come O Come Emanuel”)
- The Leader of the Starry Skies - A Tribute to Tim Smith (2011 - Believer's Roast - NSRO contributes 'March')
External links
- North Sea Radio Orchestra homepage
- North Sea Radio Orchestra @ MySpace
- North Sea Radio Orchestra page @ Oof! Records
- North Sea Radio Orchestra “End Of Chimes” video on YouTube
- "Interview: North Sea Radio Orchestra" (interview with Craig Fortnam by Ben Graham), The Stool Pigeon, June 22 2011
- NSRO member Luke Crookes analyses Beethoven's Ninth Symphony - video on YouTube