Picture Box Orchestra [Australia]
An interesting experiment in blending classical western and indian musical styles and instruments, Picture Box Orchestra’s Friday night slot was unfortunately ruined by two things unrelated to the music itself.
The first problem was a technical issue, the bass levels being much too high, a problem so bad the musicians themselves repeatedly stopped the show to ask the sound guy to fix things up.
The second problem was the band’s tendency to explain every song to death before they performed it. With soundscapes as mysterious and brooding as this, the effect is kind of ruined when you find out the mundane meaning of it all. We don’t need to hear that one song was inspired by a trip to see the Fantastic Mr Fox with your five-year-old son, or that the next track is about the time you were trying to get a signal on your phone in the countryside at night.
The music can be slightly jarring, particularly the interchange between western and indian vocal styles, but for the most part worked quite well.
I could not disagree more with this review. The onstage chemistry and dialogue added greatly to the performance of masterful composition and skilful execution. The technical issues were dealt with quite professionally, I thought, and were only a minor disruption. Their presentation of Western and Indian classical music in a contemporary context was brilliant. They were more than deserving of their standing ovation.
I was also in attendance at this concert with friends and we all thought it was an awesome performance by outstanding musicians.