Music / contemporary jazz
Review: Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, Jam Jar
They started, like any orchestra, with the strings tuning up together – but this was more for performance value as it led into the droning chord intro for Be Patient, the opening track from Swiss visitors Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp’s latest album We’re OK But We’re Lost Anyway. A pulsing double bass, scattered percussion and looping marimba riff took over and the vocal arrived. Be Patient, indeed – the tune’s sombre restraint and gentle vocals were a misleading preparation for the roistering punk-jazz-dance fest that would follow it. By that point the Jam Jar was gratifyingly crammed, not least on the stage where the Orchestre’s 13 musicians somehow found the space to move relaxedly, bobbing up and down as they came in and out of the arrangements.
Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp (pic: Tony Benjamin)
The beauty of OTPMD’s concept was to juggle the sonic possibilities offered by their mix of strings, brass, percussion, guitars, marimba/vibes and up to half a dozen voices both between and within their numbers. Composer and bandleader Vincent Bertholet’s bass provided an anchoring heartbeat throughout most of the set, content to allow the music to unfold around it. And what great music it was, not least for the combination of voices available: Liz Moscorola’s intensely folky style deepened with Eastern European influences, Aby Vulliamy contrastingly brought a kind of punky artlessness that recalled Delta 5 or the Au Pairs while Naomi Mabanda’s full-tilt R’n’B energy powered up everything she sang on. Of course they also played instruments – violin, violin and cello, respectively.
Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp (pic: Tony Benjamin)
This was a bunch of fun, for all the clever arrangements, and there was an irresistibility about the grooves behind everything that ensured dancing from early on in. The set remorselessly stoked its way to a big finish. Along the way standout songs were the almost pop catchiness of So We All with it’s refrain “So while we are together/we all sing …” tossed between voices and the punkish driving groove of So Many Things To Feel Guilty About, Aby reciting the list of guilt-trips as the backing grew to a crescendo, paused for breath and then played out in a defiant chorus. There was a chillingly atmospheric Balkan moment, too, as Liz sang the brief track Silent over swooning strings.
is needed now More than ever
Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp (pic: Tony Benjamin)
The band’s energy was infectious, creating an aura that invited you to draw nearer and be part of what they were doing – an inclusiveness that added greatly to the mood in the room and would ensure them an even bigger audience should they return. This was only their second Bristol gig, after a seven-year gap, but it’s to be hoped it will not be anything like as long before their next. Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp may have been lost but it certainly didn’t sound like it. And they were definitely OK, whatever.
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