Album Review: The Night Flight Orchestra - Give Us The Moon

Every once in a while we find ourselves confronted with the question of when a side-project stops being a side-project. There are cases where they clearly eclipse their origin point, sometimes to the degree that they become the only band left standing. That happened when Avantasia subsumed Edguy (much to my dismay). The same has not yet happened for The Night Flight Orchestra, as Soilwork is still around, but it's hard to deny that they have traded places.

The Night Flight Orchestra is here with their seventh album, while Soilwork has been slow in releasing new material. There are reasons for that, of course, but I think part of that we have to accept is that 'metal for life' is not the attitude everyone is going to hold to. Bjorn Strid would not have done seven albums of this old-school yacht rock if it wasn't what he wanted to be doing. I gather from listening that there isn't much fun left to be had in barking out his more metal and tortured side. Fun is more fun.

The other thing about The Night Flight Orchestra that is hard to put out of mind is how much they remind me of a rock version of Gunther & The Sunshine Girls. The full-time female backing vocalists are why, as they give the proceedings a glossy layer of camp that Strid alone would not be able to achieve. While they aren't singing comedy in the same way, it's hard to take lines about 'shooting velvet' entirely seriously. I mean, just look at their outfits. This is so camp they have a season pass at a national park so they never have to take down their tent.

The only question we need to answer is whether or not the band has enough songs in their glitter cannon to make this the fun ride it needs to be. "Shooting Velvet" certainly is, serving as the perfect sing-along for a yacht that has a high-powered engine to tear across the open seas. These are songs you could imagine playing during the montage of the villain's hedonism in an old episode of "The A-Team". It sounds so fun, but also makes you want to punch the people who live that kind of life all the time.

Music as escapism is an old tale, and perhaps I don't always give it the respect it deserves. I was forged listening to camp of a different variety, but the years have frayed the edges of the Big Top. As I listened to this album, the sunny days ethos was exactly what I needed to hear as I was blinded by sunlight bouncing off the snow outside my window.

This record is well-timed for another reason; January has been a slow and depressing month for music. Every day has felt like a snipe hunt for something exciting, so getting an album that is at least a toe-tapping bit of fun is a needed relief. I know there has been a cultural reassessment of disco in recent times, and perhaps rock is due for the same reckoning. Some of these songs have beats that are pulled from the same thread KISS used on "I Was Made For Loving You", and it's startling how good they can sound when compared to the dourness of so much rock we have to endure.

The Night Flight Orchestra has been one of those bands I appreciate without embracing. I have admired their dedication and their craft, but the music has never hit me in a way to win me over. I don't know if that has quite happened this time, but I had more fun listening to this record than any of their previous ones. Perhaps it is timing, but that's true of everything. We don't like to admit how much luck plays into everything that happens, but record need to be in the right place at the right time.

For The Night Flight Orchestra, perhaps that right time is right now. This is the closest they've ever come, if you ask me.