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Named for an immersive widescreen film projection system that predated IMAX,
Cinerama were founded by
David Gedge after he put
the Wedding Present on sabbatical following a 1997 tour. Centered lyrically around
Gedge's regular themes of courtship, romance, love, lust, and infidelity,
Cinerama also indulged
Gedge's love of film music from
John Barry to blaxploitation, as well as the classic songwriting of
Bacharach/
David and the less dramatic sides of
Scott Walker -- a comfy spot between twee and
Tindersticks, certainly more powerful and gutsy than the former and not as dark and solemn as the latter.
Primarily a duo shared with his mate
Sally Murrell,
Cinerama employed a shifting lineup of collaborators and full-blown members. Released in 1998, debut album Va Va Voom featured the help of
the Church's Marty Wilson-Piper and
Emma Pollock of
the Delgados.
Gedge rescued the rhythm section of the disbanded
Goya Dress (
Terry de Castro and
Simon Pearson) in 1999, employing them as members, and former
Weddoes guitarist
Simon Cleave was a regular in the lineup since the group's first show.
Rivaling the bin-clogging release schedules of
the Wedding Present,
Cinerama issued a clutch of multi-format singles in support of Va Va Voom, as well as a number of intervening releases prior to 2000's
Steve Albini-recorded
Disco Volante. Notable were the band's inaugural release on its own Scopitones label on Valentine's Day of 2000 and the single "Manhattan," which featured a cover of
the Smiths' "London" on the B-side. Conveniently collecting the group's first four singles,
This Is Cinerama was released just weeks after
Disco Volante. They were also frequent guests on
John Peel's BBC radio program, and in time released three albums of their recordings for his show. In 2002,
Cinerama released their third proper album, the dark, guitar-driven
Torino. Spring 2003 saw the release of
Cinerama Holiday, which collected the entirety of the group's fifth through eighth singles, and a clutch of live recordings followed.
In 2003,
David Gedge and
Sally Murrell ended their musical and personal relationship, and
Gedge chose to revive
the Wedding Present rather than continue recording or performing as
Cinerama; his next album was
the Wedding Present's Take Fountain in 2005. However,
Gedge occasionally includes
Cinerama songs during
Wedding Present shows, and periodically revives the project for festival appearances. In 2014,
Gedge and his Scopitones label released
Seven Wonders of the World, a compilation that brought together the tracks from
Cinerama's last five singles. Soon afterward,
Gedge revived the
Cinerama name to work on his long-gestating idea of recording a batch of songs in the styles of both
the Wedding Present and
Cinerama. With the help of Spanish indie pop musician Pedro Vigil,
Gedge dramatically reworked
the Wedding Present's 2012 album
Valentina, delivering it in May of 2015. ~ Andy Kellman