Bell Orchestre is an instrumental band from Montreal. Members of the Bell Orchestre also play in The Arcade Fire. From this information alone, most half-informed fans of the genre already have a fair idea of what to expect from the Bell Orchestre before pressing play on the first track. The six-piece mini-collective is replete with strings, horns, and an array of orchestral knick-knacks – continuing the tonal palate that has come to define Montreal’s sound (i.e. DMST, Set Fire to Flames, GY!BE, A Silver Mt. Zion, BSS).

“Stripes” begins the band’s second release, As Seen Through Windows, with the pulsating mélange of strings and horns, as if heralding the entrance of royalty. When the intensity fades, the plucked staccato notes of a violin and a distorted horn usher in the nine-minute epic “Elephants.” It is here where Bell Orchestre first shows their worth. While a lone guitar teases the listener with a brief entrance at the beginning of the track, the melodic volley between the strings and horns soon takes control. As the tension mounts and drums begin to flare, the BO’s ability to subtly interchange melody from one instrument to another is quite impressive.

As the album continues, it seems to lose steam and the melodic variations begin to indistinctively pile atop each other. The title track returns to form as a driving bass-line re-ignites the previous melodic interplay of horns and strings, maturely culminating with heavenly vocal ‘ahs’ instead of the stereotypical cacophony. Bell Orchestre does not allow for this euphoria to linger long as the slightly maddening, gypsy-folk influenced “The Gaze” breaks the tranquility quickly. These lapses contribute to the prior assertion of geographic symbiosis. There is nothing distinctly distasteful or poorly written happening throughout ASTW, but the moments of brilliance are outweighed with portions that lack candor because of their relation to the past ten years of the music of its peers.

Bell Orchestre are certainly adept at their craft, so faulting them for staying too close to a "Montreal sound" that the band’s members helped create is perhaps a little harsh. However, one can begin to feel the waning tinges of a scene that has begun to rest on its laurels. In fairness, the bar has been set extremely high for Montreal, and Bell Orchestre live up to their billing. Yet in the end, As Seen Through Windows becomes "just another release" from another French-Canadian band.

-Thomas Lloyd