Orwell - Exposition Universelle

Vinyl LP pressing. 2015 release. Airy, orchestral-pop brilliance from Jérôme Didelot and friends, propelled by guitars, piano, strings, brass, vocal harmonies, vibraphone and vintage electronics (Optigan, Mellotron, etc.). Richly arranged, but ever ready with the odd synthesizer, tuba, back-masking or unexpected chord to pierce the mix, Orwell's fifth album is a return to French after the English experience of 2011's Continental. Vous ne parlez pas français? No worries! Sunshine pop and baroque rock are the lingua franca here. Exposition Universelle was conceived on the 10th anniversary of Orwell's debut album Des lendemains (released as Following Days in the US). Listening back to the old material, Didelot felt many leads had been left unexplored: "So I wrote Exposition Universelle as if it was a kind of follow-up. The themes-the light and dark sides of mankind, the way the future is linked to progress, the gap between collective and intimate issues-are rather similar, as well as the instrumentation (quite orchestral) but the writing is more mature, I guess."