Treacherous Orchestra – Origins

by Neil McFadyen on 3 May, 2012 – in Reviews

Treacherous Orchestra are an 11 piece band featuring musicians from (amongst others) Shooglenifty, the Peatbog Fairies and Salsa Celtica. Following their hugely successful debut at Celtic Connections in 2009, the band have been bringing their considerable talent together and have, at last, produced a studio album titled ‘Origins’.

Like something from a Celtic Noah’s ark (and, let’s face it, we get the rain for it up here) this band come in two-by-two… double helpings of pipes, fiddles and percussion are joined by accordion, banjo and guitar to produce a sound that’s as big as the band, and then some. The membership reads like a who’s who of latest generation of Scottish tradition based music…

Ross Ainslie – Bagpipes & Whistle: Ali Hutton – Bagpipes & Whistle: Kevin O’Neill – Flute & Whistle: John Somerville – Accordion: Éamonn Coyne – Banjo & Tenor Guitar: Adam Sutherland – Fiddle: Innes Watson – Fiddle: Barry Reid – Electric & Acoustic Guitars: Duncan Lyall – Double Bass & Bass Guitar: Martin O’Neill – Bodhrán: Fraser Stone – Drums.

As you’d expect from such a gathering, it’s loud and it’s lively – but there are some soothing interludes which, other than providing a rest for the tapping feet, help underline the breadth of talent and level of craft that’s gone into Origins. Not surprisingly, pipes and fiddle are the predominant voices throughout, but in an instrumental album there’s always plenty room for the other contributors to shine, and Origins is no exception.

Following the short warm up of Overture, the first 15 or so minutes of the album are a whirlwind of delights. The opening stomp, March Of The Troutmen heralds the arrival of a set of three tunes (Sheepskins Beeswax / Taybank Shenanigans / Superfly) in which Superfly‘s symphonic strings seem to justify the creation of an eleven piece band on their own.

With irresistible jazz/gypsy riffs and alternating frantic and freaky dance grooves, Look East brings the opening exuberance to conclusion, before the vintage feel of a short Prelude introduces Sea Of Clouds. This track soothes the listener like an idyllic Hebridean holiday – blissfully peaceful in the sunshine, with a ceilidh to herald the sunset. Equally soothing and melodic, is Easter Island. Caught between these two gentle offerings, Sea Of Okhotsk contrasts sharply, and has an opening Tangerine Dream would have been proud of, before it dives headlong into a frantic multi-instrumental dance.

The album closes as it opened – in a light hearted mood. Sausages is an epic, lively set of tunes. A reggae inspired opening introduces electro-ceilidh beat building towards a trance conclusion that owes almost as much to Shooglenifty and Martyn Bennett as it does to the band’s prowess.

For anyone who’s new to Treacherous Orchestra, this should be an exciting and invigorating breath of fresh air. For those who’ve enjoyed them live, Origins should be just what you expected and hoped for – but with the added benefit of crisp, clear production and the option to enjoy the whole performance again as often as you like.

Origins is about energy, joy, exuberance….if we could bottle this energy there’d be no more arguments about wind farms.

Review by: Neil McFadyen

Posted on Pipehacker | April 13, 2012 | by Vince Janoski

When you first look at their album cover for Origins, Treacherous Orchestra appears as if it is just the latest thrash metal group or DJ-dance-hall-fusion-electronica band. Never would you suspect an ensemble that pays a great deal of homage to their Celtic traditional roots and puts forth a sound that is like a Scottish country dance band with a bit too much Talisker in their tea. Or maybe too many peyote mushrooms…

Anyway, despite their array of traditional instruments, there is nothing standard or typical in the elaborate arrangements by this group. Thick, layered grooves and deeply rooted Celtic rhythms and instrumentation fused with the aforementioned rock and dance club stylings mix in dramatic fashion. Each track is a jazzy ride of sound that leaves you forgetting you’re listening to, if we have to define them, a Celtic-rock group. Nothing is forced or overrendered, though. Many of these types of fusion groups are unholy combinations of hard rockers and traditionalists who just try too hard. But Treacherous Orchestra is nothing of the sort. Their music is polished and thrilling, and never do they lose the joyful drive that is at the core of traditional Celtic music.

Anyone who has seen rising young musicians Ali Hutton and Ross Ainslie kicking it at Piping Live! knows what lies in store. These guys have been a fixture on the Scottish session scene for some time and on this album, as always, they take tired traditional licks and infuse them with new energy. These pipers and joined by an ample troupe of ten other musicians to create a deeply original and exciting sound. Whether it is multi-dimensional tones in the operatic thirteen-minute “Sausage” where the changes are seamless, or capturing a mood that is both frenetic and cheeky as in “Superfly,” where the repeating riffs seem neither redundant nor tired, or the more sombre and traditional “Sea of Clouds,” Treacherous Orchestra gives you a lot to hold on to and leaves you wanting more at the end of each track.

Their grooves move forward with a hint of the rock bands of the past, always threatening to careen out of control but always returning you safely at the end. (Dare I say there are touches of Jethro Tull in “March of the Troutmen?”).

Anyhoo, twenty bucks not spent on their CD is wasted money, I say. Hit their website and hope they give a concert near you.