The Orchestra in the Sky

Hochzeitskapelle are a German instrumental quintet comprised of musicians from the Munich Jazz scene, who have garnered a reputation for their loose and holistic approach to performance. With each member being a multi-instrumentalist, their line-up encompasses a myriad of brass instruments, banjo, harmonium, glockenspiel, viola and percussion, lending their arrangements a folksy, big band quality. The Orchestra in the Sky is a culmination of the group’s longstanding relationship with Japanese independent and underground musicians, presented as an expansive double album recorded in both Kobe and Tokyo. Among the many collaborating artists are avant-pop band Tenniscoats, singer-songwriter Yuko Ikema, acid-folk duo Eddie Marcon and jazz woodwind player/bandleader Kanji Nakao. The soundscape of the album is as eclectic as the lineup of guests, morphing between playful big band marches, elegiac chamber orchestrations and delicate acoustic pop, all delivered with a joyful, ramshackle energy. The songs largely have an air of wistful optimism, combined with an underlying sense of bittersweet melancholy – the intimacy of the recording accentuating both the fragility and grandiosity of the arrangements. At just over two hours of music, The Orchestra in the Sky is an exhaustive body of work, yet stands as a comprehensive encapsulation of a multi-year cultural exchange, resulting in an album laced with beauty and humanity.