Formed in South London by Darius Keeler and Rosko John in 1993, Archive has evolved into an ensemble project.
Two decades on from their debut Londinium album, they appear to have abandoned their early trip-hop direction in favour of "a part-orchestral, part-electronic, part-soulful, part-progressive" and wholly pompous sound described as an "emotion-soaked panorama".
The band's cinematic ambitions have now reached a point that they've even commissioned a black and white movie to go with the album through NYSU, a Spanish film production company.
It is conceived as one continuous 40-minute piece of music which Keeler says is "a musical journey with a clear beginning and end, but you can certainly pull out six parts that could be distinguished as songs.".
A title like Transmission Data Terminate suggests a technology-induced sense of alienation with worries of being "caught up in static dreams" (Distorted Angels) whilst bemoaning the fact that "no on seems to matter anymore" (Shiver) adds to the angst.
The title track, featuring a recording of the bells at Greenwich church, is a wordless centrepiece that lasts ten minutes and is reprised for the four-minute closing track.
|
The sound of church bells, a cover image of rosary beads and a track called Baptism all conspire to imply the band have some spiritual solution in mind; the director of the movie is even called Jesus (Hernandez)!
Judging from the trailer and promotional info, AXIOM the film is a dystopian sci-fi fantasy, with elements of 1984 and V For Vendetta but picking out a coherent storyline is no easy matter. Perhaps with the visuals it makes more sense.
Based on the music alone it is an occasionally stirring but mostly bland and sexless soundtrack.
Archive’s website
|
