Modified Toy Orchestra: Silfurberg - album review - Louder Than War

Modified Toy Orchestra – Silfurberg (Bit-Phalanx Music)

CD / DL

Out Now

British electronic experimentalists release their first album in twelve years. Louder Than War's Paul Scott-Bates reviews.

WARNING! Several Casio keyboards were harmed in the making of this album – more of that later.

Be it an Icelandic crystal or an old Norse sunstone, Silfurberg is a beautiful thing. A crystallised calcium carbonite originally from the world's most sparsely populated country, it is rumoured that Vikings used its light-polarizing property to tell the direction of the sun on cloudy days for navigational purposes. And so, the third album from Modified Toy Orchestra takes its title.

Silfurberg (the album) is a work of art. A techno classical album of sorts which tips an affectionate wink in the direction of Gustav Holst or Vangelis, also has hints of twenty-first century Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark and teases of Kraftwerk which are interwoven quite beautifully.

It isn't pop and it isn't ambient. It somehow sits between the two for the most part of the album with the occasional crunching percussion (see Killer Electrons) and gives the impression of large orchestras and brass sections which may accompany TV or film soundtracks about northern England during wartime. It is often deeply moving and highly addictive, seemingly telling a story of which we know nothing but conveying a deep sense of regret and sadness but, channelling a feeling of immense hope.

So what of the Casio torture? You may or may not have heard of Modified Toy Orchestra before albeit that you should. Brian Duffy, main member and curator of the project, effectively disembowels educational spelling toys and keyboards before circuit bending the sound making devices and re-assembling them. It is true innovation and quite literally creates a unique sound.

Their first two albums, Toygopop (2006) and Plastic Planet (2010) were bouncier and almost gimmicky – This Is The Monkey and Qwerty being cases in point – but, with Silfurberg there is a maturity and a darker feel, much in the way Holst's The Planets builds from slow beginnings to triumphant accolades, from throbbing rhythms to tranquil calm.

Silfurberg is a grower, a pleasant experience on first listen, a trove of glittering treasures the more its beauty and class sinks in. Nokia mobile phone should be afraid, very afraid.

The Modified Toy Orchestra website is here: modifiedtoyorchestra.com. You can like them on Facebook here.

All words by Paul Scott-Bates. More of Paul's writing on Louder Than War can be found at his author's archive. Paul's website is hiapop and you can follow him on Twitter as @hiapop, and on Facebook here.

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